The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights became legally binding with the introduction of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009. There are six main areas in the charter: dignity, freedom, equality, solidarity, citizen’s rights and justice.
The European Commission received about 4,000 letters, questions and petitions on fundamental rights issues
Since the charter’s adoption, annual progress reports on its application have been published. The most recent one gives an overview of the implementation of the charter in 2012 and examines how EU institutions take its provisions into consideration when proposing and adopting legislation.
In the past year, the European Commission received about 4,000 letters, questions and petitions on issues concerning fundamental rights. Such letters have been sent by both MEPs and citizens.
About 58 per cent of the letters received dealt with issues that are not covered by the charter. The charter is only binding on member states when EU law is being implemented. Of the remaining valid questions, the issue of most concern was free movement and residence, with the functioning of the national justice systems coming second. Other topics of concern include access to justice, the integration of people with disabilities and the protection of personal data.
In addition to the annual report on the charter, a second document was also published recording the progress of gender equality in 2012. This second report concluded that women represent the growing share of the European workforce.
In 1997, women represented about 55 per cent of the workforce. Women now represent an estimated 64 per cent of the EU’s workforce. In addition, in many instances, women are becoming the main source of income for their families.
Prior to the economic crisis, the gap between the share of men and women in the workforce was beginning to close. However, as a result of the crisis, this progress began to slow down. Further steps need to be taken in this area to meet the Europe 2020 targets.
European Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding stated that more had to be done to strengthen and protect the fundamental rights of all EU citizens because such rights formed the basis of the EU.
The fact that national courts are also taking the charter into consideration in their rulings shows the importance it is playing in the everyday life of citizens.
Following the charter’s introduction, the European Commission adopted a strategy to ensure its effective implementation. This strategy created an implementation checklist of rights.
In a bid to further boost European citizens’ fundamental rights, the European Commission is putting forward 12 measures to the Council.
One of the most important measures being proposed is aimed at tackling employment problems. Reding and Employment Commissioner László Andor both feel that removing obstacles to free movement of citizens for work purposes will assist in easing unemployment.
The Commission proposal on free movement aims to extend the time frame for granting unemployment benefits to job seekers looking for work in another member states from three days to six months.
It is believed that this proposal will assist the unemployed youth in particular.
The other proposals made by the Commission address practical issues such as a European disability card. This card would allow about 80 million disabled people avail themselves of certain benefits in other member states such as accessing transport and leisure activities.
Voting rights are also covered by the proposed measures, in particular, the right to vote in national elections despite no longer living in the member state in question.
All of these proposals have been made by Brussels in light of the European Year of the Citizen, which hopes to make citizens more aware of the rights and how to better access them.
David Casa is a Nationalist MEP.