Brussels, 05/05/2000 (Agence Europe) - As expected, the Convention responsible for drawing up the European Union's draft Charter of Fundamental Rights, has run up against certain difficulties when examining social rights and horizontal clauses. New proposals need working out for the meeting on 22 and 23 May, at the end of which a first mold of the compete draft Charter should be available, in anticipation of a vote to be taken on 5 June. Work is slightly behind schedule, as the completed text should have been available for the meeting of 11 and 12 May. Next week's meeting was nearly cancelled, but the Convention finally decided to dedicate to an examination of the preamble and possible new proposals on aspects that are said to have been neglected so far.
In discussions on the horizontal clauses, the members of the Convention recommended several editorial changes regarding:
- The field of application: the Charter's provisions should be addressed to EU institutions and bodies as well as Member states exclusively in the framework of the implementation of Community law. Several members have insisted on the respect of subsidiarity.
- Limitations to guaranteed rights: some provisions should not be the subject of any limitations. The other limitations must be provided for by the legislator in the respect of the principle of proportionality and within the limits necessary for the protection of legitimate interests in a democratic society. A reference to limitations provided for by the European Human Rights Convention (EHRC) and, possibly, to the Court's case law, continues to pose certain problems.
- The level of protection: no provision in the charter should be able to be interpreted as restraining the scope of rights guaranteed by Union law or the laws of Member States. Some would like an explicit reference to the priority application of the highest level of protection being provided for. This article could be complemented by two paragraphs: (1) the Charter may not be interpreted as restraining the level of protection guaranteed by the EHRC and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights; (2) the provisions that it contains regarding economic and social rights must be interpreted as taking account of international conventions concluded by EU Member States .
