Vitorino bids to avoid clash over charter

Date: 07/09/00

By John Shelley

JUSTICE chief António Vitorino is set to back away from demanding that the proposed EU charter of fundamental rights be made legally binding.

But the Commissioner hopes to achieve the same goal through the back door by insisting that the civil, legal and social rights set out in the current draft text are compatible with existing Union legislation.

In a move designed to avoid a clash between the EU executive and governments which remain sceptical about the planned charter, Vitorino will duck the controversial issue of whether rights should become legally enforceable under Union law when he presents a progress report on negotiations next week.

By showing that the planned new bill of rights is not being used to extend the EU's powers, as some governments fear, he hopes to undermine the case against making the text legally binding. This would strengthen the hand of those member states which insist that a non-binding document would fail to inspire the confidence of a sceptical public.

Commission officials argue this softly-softly approach is the best strategy for getting a consensus on the package at the Biarritz summit in October, when Union leaders will discuss the draft charter formally for the first time. "If we have an agreement based on the technicalities of the charter, we could kill these kind of arguments before we get to Biarritz," said one. "It should be a great help in avoiding dispute."

But some members of the 62-strong convention tasked with drafting the charter argue that the EU executive should tackle the issue of the text's legal status head on. "The Commission's input has been of excellent quality but so far it has been quite discreet," said British Liberal MEP Andrew Duff. "We would appreciate them taking a political position. To not do so would be a wasted opportunity."

Justice chief António Vitorino ia set to back away from demanding that the proposed EU charter of fundamental rights be made legally binding.