Rights agency stuck in leadership limbo

The European Parliament has complained to the European Commission about the length of time it is taking to select a director of the new Fundamental Rights Agency. The Parliament is also demanding a greater role in selecting a candidate for the post.

Jean-Marie Cavada, a French Liberal MEP and chairman of Parliament’s civil liberties committee, wrote last week to Franco Frattini, European commissioner for justice, freedom and security, asking the Commission to speed up the process of selecting candidates as it had already been four months since the job was advertised.

The Commission confirmed that it was examining the applications of more than ten candidates for the post and expects to submit a shortlist to the Parliament by September.

An initial meeting of Commission experts was held last week to assess the applications, a spokesman for the Commission said. The final shortlist is to consist of three or four candidates who will be approved by Frattini and Siim Kallas, the commissioner for administration and personnel. But Cavada has demanded that five or six candidates be interviewed by the civil liberties committee. "We don’t want to interview one or two or three candidates as it could be that the choice for candidate has already been decided and it’s not interesting for us if the decision is already taken," Cavada told European Voice.

The Commission spokesman said that while Frattini had not yet drafted a reply to the letter, "I am sure we will be able to find a mutually agreeable approach".

The Parliament and the Council of Ministers will list the candidates in order of preference once they have interviewed them. The agency’s management board will then appoint the director based on their opinions.

Cavada said that there was a general problem with fundamental rights, given the concession given to the UK at the June EU summit to opt out of the Charter of Fundamental Rights in the revised treaty. He said that the civil liberties committee would be carrying out an examination of fundamental rights in the Union in 2004-07.

Human rights groups and MEPs were disappointed when the mandate of the Fundamental Rights Agency, set up in January this year and based in Vienna, was limited to scrutinising community law issues such as discrimination and racism rather than member states’ remit, including the conduct of police and security forces.

The European Parliament has complained to the European Commission about the length of time it is taking to select a director of the new Fundamental Rights Agency. The Parliament is also demanding a greater role in selecting a candidate for the post.