First draft of EU charter looks set to be delayed

Date: 13/07/2000

By John Shelley

THE timetable for drawing up a charter of fundamental rights for EU citizens appears doomed to slip again because of slow progress in discussions on the most controversial articles.

The 62-member convention charged with drawing up the charter began talks this weeks on a first draft of the social and economic rights section, which includes proposals for rights for workers to be consulted in management decisions and to strike.

After completing discussions on the less-disputed political and civil rights section earlier this week, and beginning talks on the social chapter the following day, the group now has just three working days to plough through the remaining 20 articles or miss the deadline for completing a first draft of the whole text by next Thursday (20 July).

Members of the convention say that judging from the fact that it took them half a day to consider the first social article, on the right to work, it now looks increasingly unlikely that they will meet that deadline. "At this rate, it does not look like we are going to get through it all by next week," said British Liberal MEP Andrew Duff.

The planned section on social rights is the most controversial aspect of the proposed charter, with the UK in particular opposed to enshrining rights which it fears could extend existing national social legislation.

The convention originally planned to present a first draft of the text to EU leaders at their summit in Feira last month. They now face the possibility that a preliminary version of the charter will not even be ready before the summer break.

Diplomats say that if member states do not have a chance to consider the draft during August, hopes of having a final version ready for approval in time for the December summit in Nice could be dashed - and that would make it impossible to get the charter enshrined in Union law as part of the treaty changes due to be agreed at the end of this year, as favoured by many.

During this week's talks on one of the most hotly debated articles, the suggested right of consultation for workers, a member of the UK delegation, Lord Goldsmith, condemned the current proposal.

He argued that it would go beyond existing legislation and introduce universal worker consultation rules by the back door which London has been fighting against for years. "The position in the UK is that this article would amount to expressing through the charter rules which at the moment the UK is not prepared to accept," he said.

When the members of the convention have discussed all the proposed articles, the chairman and vice-chairman will be tasked with writing the first draft text based on their interpretation of the group's opinions.

The timetable for drawing up a charter of fundamental rights for EU citizens appears doomed to slip again because of slow progress in discussions on the most controversial articles.