Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union

PURPOSE : to present the draft Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. CONTENT : at the formal session of the Convention on 02.10.2000, the President of the Convention responsible for preparing the draft recorded that there was a broad consensus and he sent it to the President of the European Council. The draft includes ambitious innovations which are as follows: - the bringing together in a single instrument the rights of persons: civil, political, economic and social rights of the European Union citizens. This breaks with the traditional distinction between civil and political rights on the one hand and economic and social rights on the other hand, enumerating all rights around a few major principles: human dignity, fundamental freedoms, equality, solidarity, citizenship and justice; - in respect for the principle of universalism, the rights included in the draft are, for the most, given to all persons, irrespective of their race, colour or nationality or place of residence, except in the case of rights which are most directly bound up with citizenship of the Union which are given only to citizens (e.g. participation in European Parliament or local elections) and for certain which are related to a particular status (rights of children, certain social rights for workers); - the draft outlines new rights which are linked to the development of information technology or genetic engineering (e.g. data protection and rights relating to bioethics); - finally, it responds to a legitimate contemporary demand for transparency and impartiality in the operation of Community administration (access rights to administrative documents from institutions or the right to a sound administration).�