French ambitions could derail EU bill of rights

Date: 08/06/2000

By John Shelley

POLITICIANS tasked with drawing up the Union's charter of fundamental rights say good progress is being made, but warn that the process could be derailed if France uses its EU presidency to push for powerful social obligations to be included in the text.

Members of the 62-strong convention which is drafting the 'bill of rights' for Union citizens say they remain optimistic about completing their work in the autumn, in time for the text to be approved by EU leaders at their summit in Nice in December.

A draft charter containing 50 articles designed to guarantee citizens a range of civil, political, social and economic rights is due to be handed to Union governments for consideration at this month's Feira summit. "Things are progressing fairly well. In terms of timing, we are pretty much on schedule," said one diplomat.

But observers warn that a crisis could loom after France takes charge of Union business in July. They say an unlikely alliance between the French and the UK could dash widespread hopes that the charter will be made legally binding on member states - or inadvertently cripple the chances of it being adopted at all.

Paris is expected to use its EU presidency to push for much stronger social rights to be included in the text, and diplomats say the charter-sceptical British may choose to go along with this in the hope that it will become so overburdened with unrealistic articles that the whole project will become unviable or impossible to make legally binding.

This, they warn, would mean that France would not only fail to get what it wants, but also that hopes of a slimmed-down but legally binding charter focusing on basic human and civil rights could be dashed. "The French position could end up having the same effect as that of countries which do not want a charter at all," said Swedish centre-right MEP Charlotte Cederschiöld.

Fellow convention negotiator and British Conservative MEP Timothy Kirkhope added: "The danger is we are going to end up with something that nobody wants."

The current draft charter lists 50 rights, of which 30 address civil and political issues such as the right to a fair trial and protection from invasion of privacy. More controversially, it also contains 25 social rights, including those to social security, health and environmental protection, and five articles defining the charter's scope.

Charter-sceptical member states such as the UK are worried that a legally binding text containing social rights articles could open the door to a flood of legal claims from citizens. Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner António Vitorino is, however, expected to call for the document to be made legally binding when the Commission considers progress on the project later this month.

Politicians tasked with drawing up the Union's charter of fundamental rights say good progress is being made, but warn that the process could be derailed if France uses its EU presidency to push for powerful social obligations to be included in the text.