2000: The EU Adopts a Charter of Fundamental Rights

For a long time, each EU member state was responsible upholding human rights on its own – then as now, membership of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is a requirement for any state wishing to join the EU. Therefore until 2000, the EU did not have its own set of rules that set out binding fundamental rights. In October 1999, the Tampere European Council appointed a committee made up of 62 members and chaired by Roman Herzog, the former German federal president. Its task was to draw up a charter of fundamental rights, which it did in under a year. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union was formally proclaimed at the Nice Summit on 12 December 2000. Following the long debates about an EU constitution, it finally came into force in 2009. The Charter is legally binding and as a protocol is part of the legal foundations of the EU, the Treaty of Lisbon (with the exception of Poland).

The preamble to the European Charter of Fundamental Rights lists the dignity of the individual, freedom, equality, solidarity and the basic principles of democracy and the rule of law as shared values of the peoples of Europe. It consists of seven chapters (Dignity, Freedoms, Equality, Solidarity, Citizens’ Rights, Justice, and General Provisions) and 54 articles. Complaints regarding compliance with the Charter of Fundamental Rights can be taken to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). In 2007 the FRA – the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights – began to operate in Vienna. Its job is to monitor the situation of fundamental rights in the EU.

Read the full text of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights here