The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Texts and commentaries

Published by Kogan Page on behalf of the Federal Trust.

Book abstract:

One of the most important issues and concerns of the European Union is the fundamental rights of its citizens. The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights sets out to spell out more clearly and visibly to the citizens of Europe what those rights are, and how they are protected under European law. This book consists of seventeen commentaries that reflect the wide spectrum of interests and concerns that have influenced the drafting process.

The book is split into four parts. After the institutional and political points of view in part one come those of the lawyers in part two. Part three examines various views on economic and social rights and part four the issues of social discrimination, minorities and the impact of the Charter on the process of enlargement for the EU and a citizen's Europe. The Charter, as approved at the Biarritz Summit in October 2000, forms part of the book so that readers can relate the interpretations of the commentators to the text itself.

In particular, the book covers questions such as: What rights should the Charter contain? How should they be enforced? What should the Charter's status be in relation to other instruments for the protection of human rights? What effects will such a document have for individual citizens, particular groups of society, the Member States and the Union as a whole?

Contributions to the volume come from lawyers, politicians, human rights activists, academics, civil servants, trade unions, business and local government representatives. Overall, the book provides a comprehensive assessment of the proposed EU Charter and is as much a valuable contribution to the discourse on adequate fundamental rights protection as it is to the debate about the EU's constitutional structure and the future of European integration.