Twenty-five years after its proclamation on 7 December 2000, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union represents a legal pillar of the EU, but about which there is still too little awareness.
While the European Commission’s 2025 Annual Report, published on Friday 5 December, notes a number of areas of progress, both in terms of new legislation and improvements in the role of national authorities, it nevertheless highlights that “challenges in ensuring the effective application of the Charter remain”.
One of the main findings is that there is a low level of awareness of the rights guaranteed by the Charter, both among citizens and among the professionals and public authorities responsible for applying it.
The consultations carried out by the Commission show that, although most Member States now have national focal points and organise training courses, these actions remain uneven and are often limited to specialised administrations.
Published to mark this 25th anniversary, the Eurobarometer data point in the same direction. For example, 49% of Europeans say they are aware of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, while 51% say they have never heard of it. Less than one in two European citizens is aware of this legal framework and is unaware that it could protect their rights, due to a lack of information, awareness or effective access to remedies.
The document also argues that it is necessary to consolidate awareness-raising for local and regional public decision-makers, who directly apply many of the texts concerned by the Charter. To this end, the Commission is urging the Member States to develop appropriate training courses and to produce teaching tools that are accessible in each national language. It would also mean implementing regular procedures to analyse the effects of laws on fundamental rights. And with good reason: although they already exist, these practices are still too sporadic.
EU agencies: actors in the implementation of the Charter. Effective compliance with the Charter also relies on the action of the European Space, Justice and Home Affairs agencies.
A report published by these organisations on 5 December lists examples of how they have applied the Charter. Some have appointed dedicated fundamental rights officers, set up complaints mechanisms or drawn up binding codes of conduct.
One example is the European Asylum Agency, which employs a specific system for reporting potential infringements and monitoring how they are dealt with, while Frontex deploys “fundamental rights monitors” on the ground to monitor its operations.
All these examples show how the Charter is tending to become a benchmark and an institutional reflex, with procedures that respond to it. According to the Commission’s 2025 Annual Report, this dynamic now needs to be better coordinated, shared between Member States and supported politically.
For the second half of the Strategy, aimed at strengthening the application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights in the European Union (2021-2030) (https://aeur.eu/f/jwo ), it therefore wants the Charter to be used as a practical tool by administrations, professionals and the public.
The Commission’s Annual Report: https://aeur.eu/f/jwc
The agencies’ report: https://aeur.eu/f/jwd
The Eurobarometer data: https://aeur.eu/f/jwe (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)