Strasbourg, 05/07/2001 (Agence Europe) - Meeting on Thursday in Strasbourg, the European Parliament announced its adoption of reports by Mattei Wuori (Greens/ELA) on human rights around the world (MEPs voted by 246 to 141 in favour with 50 abstentions) and by the Frenchman Thierry Cornillet (UDF) on fundamental rights in the EU. The Wuori report considers the main violations in the year 2000 in third countries, including certain countries bidding for EU membership, such as Turkey. The second one is a sort of transition report as it proposes a new model for the future with a working group being put in charge of assessing how respect for fundamental rights is fairing, against the background of the Charter proclaimed in Nice (see EUROPE of 11 June, p.10 and 27 June, p.6).
During the vote, the Parliament made several amendments to the two Resolutions. On the situation in the world, the Parliament broadly took its cue from the rapporteur, thereby regretting the human rights violations committed by Russian troops in Chechnya and urging the Member States to refer the case to the European Court of Human Rights (amendment by Mr Haarder). It dropped the reference to the possible creation of ad hoc criminal courts for Chechnya, Timor and Iraq. The Parliament is pressing the EU and its Member States to take advantage of the opportunity offered by the Durban Conference to raise the question of combating the discriminatory cast system (260 million people affected in India and the countries of South Asia) in the action programme due to be adopted at this international conference on racism.
As for fundamental rights in the EU, the Parliament approved the new assessment method, which Mr Cornillet claims will result in a more factual document, a genuine assessment of the respect for basic freedoms in the EU and its Member States. The Parliament agreed that solely the relevant Committee should be entitled to amend the text of the report due to be approved by a single "assent" vote, during a plenary session (no later than the July one). The rapporteur was delighted about the way the vote went, stressing that this should mean a clear break with the system where references to a given national situation were dropped on a regular basis. The Parliament did not go along with its Committee on Freedoms, and Citizens' Rights, which sought the abolition of the protocol («Aznar») to the Amsterdam Treaty introducing restrictions to the right of asylum a Member States grants to citizens of another EU country. By a slim majority (220 to 207 with 17 abstentions), the Parliament voted in favour of recognising non-marital relations between members of the same sex or otherwise and awarding equal rights to these individuals. The Parliament dropped the paragraph proposing legal recognition of same sex marriages (175 to 204 with 22 abstentions). It adopted an amendment by the rapporteur calling for a European day of fundamental rights and for the text of the Charter to be distributed to all children. By adopting two other amendments by Mr Cornillet, the Parliament called for the granting of visas to domestic staff in embassies to be made conditional upon the presentation of an employment contract and the right of domestic staff to change employers. It also wants the 1961 Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations to be amended to allow diplomatic immunity to be lifted in the context of privacy. The Parliament urges the new Italian parliament to stick to the pledge the earlier government made to repeal the transitional Article XIII of the Italian constitution soon, which condemns males descendants of the Royal House of Savoy to perpetual exile (amendments by the Forza Italia elected representative, Francesco Fiori and the British Conservative Charles Tannock).
Mr Michel: EU has to set an example before giving lessons
During the debate, Mr Wuori stressed the importance of defining priorities and came out in favour of a better theme-specific approach, emphasising the abolition of the death penalty, combating torture and promoting freedom of expression. He stressed the need to «show consistency in the approach to third countries», with "even-handed criticism», including the case of candidate countries, such as Turkey. Mr Wuori said human rights clauses should appear in all agreements even if the negotiating partner is Russia. After suggesting it was a bit «surreal» for the same debate to include human rights in the world and fundamental rights in the EU, for which «we are fully responsible», Mr Cornillet recalled that his report uses the EU Charter of fundamental rights as a yardstick for assessing the situation in the Member States and called for more resources to be allocated for preparing this annual report, which in the future should reflect an experts' assessment to be featured in the explanatory memorandum. The report is to be prepared by a team that would include the rapporteur from the previous year and the one from the following year.
«The EU has to set an example before trying to give lessons», said the Belgian Foreign Minister, Louis Michel, whose country now holds the EU Presidency, stressing the EU's willingness to promote respect for human rights everywhere in the world. According to him, the main priority has to be to promote respect for freedom of expression and freedom of the press. Referring to the forthcoming UN conference on racism in Durban, South Africa, Mr Michel said the EU wants to see an effective action plan adopted and will stress the need for countries to meet their commitments. "The death penalty is unacceptable because it affects the most basic right: the right to life, » he said, adding that the EU will systematically seek its abolition in all contacts with third countries. The Presidency will also do its utmost to persuade the EU's partners to ratify the Rome Convention creating an international criminal court, said Mr Michel, recalling that eight EU Member States have already ratified the text, which needs 60 ratifications for it to be put into effect.
Commissioner Chris Patten stressed the importance of freedom of expression. Answering MEPS' concerns about the operation of the human right clauses in agreements with third countries, he said the Commission is ready to discuss what shape they should take in the future. He also announced the Commission will be unveiling a Communication in the autumn on banning the production of materials that may be used for the purpose of torture or inhuman treatment. Welcoming the Parliament's decision to take the Charter of fundamental rights as a permanent yardstick of progress and shortcomings in respect for basic freedoms in the EU, Commissioner Antonio Vitorino said he will be promoting the debate with the team of Commissioners about the Cornillet report's recommendations, particularly the idea of assigning a fundamental rights portfolio to one of the Commissioners.
On behalf of the EPP/ED group, Michael Gahler of Germany stressed the need to apply equal treatment to all countries, without any interference from economic and geopolitical interests (he cited in particular the cases of China and Russia). «Human rights are not negotiable», said the British Labour MEP Michael Cashman, referring to the religious persecution in Vietnam, the death penalty in the United States, various forms of racism, discrimination and unfair treatment suffered by homosexuals. The Liberal Cecilia Malmström of Sweden pointed to the difficult circumstances in which journalists work in many countries, particularly Columbia, Cuba and Russia, and called for pressure to be applied to countries that seek to prevent access to the Internet. Monica Frassoni (Greens/ELA elected in Belgium but holding Italian nationality) urged the Presidency to make a concrete commitment to the fight against the death penalty. Pedro Marset Campos of Spain (Izquierda Unida) gave the EUL/NGL group's to the two reports and spoke of the need to take account of the role of multinationals that fund military regimes or paramilitary groups. Stressing the rights of children, Roberta Angelilli (Alleanza nazionale) called for the right to adopt children or artificial procreation to be reserved for a «natural family». Bastiaan Belder of the Netherlands (EDD)spoke of the need to ensure human rights are retained with the framework fixed by «God the creator» and underscored the respect for marriage enshrined in the union of a man and woman.