Fundamental Rights Charter proclaimed in Parliament amid protest

The Commission, Parliament and Council presidents on Wednesday (12 December) solemnly proclaimed The Charter of Fundamental Rights in the European assembly in Strasbourg, amid shouts from Eurosceptic MEPs.

The proclamation took place just a day before heads of state and government are set to sign a new EU Treaty, which refers to the Charter in an article providing it with a legal base, in Lisbon on 13 December.

However, the celebrations were interrupted by Eurosceptic MEPs who shouted down the speakers and called for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, which takes up the main elements of the failed draft EU Constitution rejected by voters in France and the Netherlands in 2005. The new Treaty is intended to be ratified via national parliaments, with only one country – Ireland – certain to hold a referendum.

Other MEPs condemned the troublemakers in parliament as “hooligans”. Liberal MEP Graham Watson said: “British UKIP, as well as Eurosceptic Conservatives and Polish far right MEPs today brought the hooligan behaviour of the football stadium into the European Parliament.”

Portuguese Prime Minister José Socrates, whose country is currently at the EU’s helm, said: “No matter how loud you heckle and yell, this will be a fundamental day in European history. This charter is a commitment to European values.”

The charter sets out a range of classic civil liberties, but also political, economic and social rights for European citizens. It was already proclaimed by EU heads of state and government at the European Council in Nice in 2000, but that declaration was merely of political value. The Lisbon Treaty will make the charter legally binding to all EU institutions, bodies and member states applying community law, except for Poland and the UK, which were granted opt-outs.

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