Addresses by other Parliaments

 Danmark

 Remarks of the Folketing on item 1 on the agenda of the EU-Speakers  conference in Rome 22 - 24 September 2000

 Item 1: The role of national parliaments and the European Parliament in the  reform process of the European Union and in the drafting of an EU Charter of  Fundamental Rights

(Rapporteur: Nicola Mancino, President of the Italian Senate)

The Folketing's role in the reform process in the EU (inter-governmental conference etc.)

Reforms in the EU are discussed and implemented at inter-governmental conferences, and Denmark is very pleased that these conferences are for the representatives of governments, i.e. ministers.

The Folketing exercises its influence on the Danish government's EU policies first and foremost through the European Affairs Committee. In this committee the Danish ministers, prior to their participation in meetings of the Council of the European Union, must have their proposed mandates for negotiation approved in matters which concern decisions of a wider scope.

In connection with the inter-governmental conference in progress the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Danish chief negotiator regularly discuss the course of events with the members of the European Affairs Committee at informal meetings at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Minister for Foreign Affairs also provides the European Affairs Committee with information at the normal meetings of the European Affairs Committee prior to ministers' meetings at inter-governmental conferences.

General questions regarding EU policy are discussed at sessions of the Folketing. Plenary debates are often based on questions or interpellations to ministers. The principal lines of Danish policy in connection with the current inter-governmental conference were established by a resolution of the Folketing on 23 February 2000, which refers to the basis of negotiations that the government reached agreement on with a majority of the Folketing's parties on 2 February 2000. This emphasises the EU's enlargement as the main objective. This means that the questions on which agreement was not reached in Amsterdam must be clarified in Nice, especially the institutional questions regarding the weighting of votes and majority decisions in the Council, in addition to the number of commissioners, etc. The Danish government wanted a narrow agenda for the inter-governmental conference, but - with the consent of the European Affairs Committee - also agreed to discuss closer cooperation (also called "flexibility").

The European Parliament's influence on inter-governmental conferences is established in the Treaty and by the decisions of the European Council in connection with convening the inter-governmental conference in progress.

The Folketing is not interested in extending the influence of the European Parliament on inter-governmental conferences over and above this. The Folketing therefore could not support the idea from the President of the European Parliament of holding a parliamentary conference prior to the Treaty of Nice. The Folketing has not found such "assizes" beneficial.

2. The work on the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights

The Folketing has two representatives in the convention (a working group comprising representatives of governments, the national parliaments and EU institutionsinstitutions), which is working on the draft of an EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. They are working in close collaboration with the Danish government's representative, former Speaker of the Folketing Erling Olsen.

The convention has now (as a working group at informal meetings) completed extremely detailed discussions of all the suggested articles and, at the end of July, the Presidium published a revised, compiled draft of the charter on the basis of the discussions to date, to which members can contribute remarks before 1 September.

The overall draft will be discussed in the convention at a series of two meetings, namely from 11 - 13 September and from 25 - 26 September 2000, so that the draft can be discussed at the meeting of the European Council in Biarritz from 13 - 14 October. Depending on the decisions at the summit meeting in Biarritz there may be a final meeting of the convention from 18 - 19 October 2000, after which a final draft should be available at the summit meeting in Paris in December 2000.

At the present stage of the convention's negotiations the main Danish views - which to a great extent are similar to the British, Swedish and Finnish views - are as follows:

• We prefer a political declaration rather than a legally binding text, even though the text must be worded in such a precise manner that, if the occasion should arise at a later stage, the European Council can decide to make it a legally binding text which could be incorporated in the Treaty.

• We preferred the model suggested by Lord Goldsmith with a brief, to-the-point wording in part A and a part B integrated with this in which the more precise legal provisions are stated, including references to the European Human Rights Convention. But, like the British, we are now aiming at a compromise, in which the brief texts are accompanied by more detailed "explanations" with relevant references. In August the Presidium has distributed a draft of these "explanations".

• There must be a reference to legal usage from the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, and this reference should be among the horizontal articles. In general the wording should to as great an extent as possible follow the wording of the EHRC, so that differences in practice between the courts in Strasbourg and Luxembourg do not occur.

• Economic and social rights are part of the charter, but these rights are of a different character to human rights and fundamental rights, as they are not "individually judicable", i.e. a citizen cannot, with reference to the charter, take legal action in the Court of Justice of the European Communities to obtain a ruling that he must have a job or a house, for example.

• The charter should be an easily understandable text which clarifies the current rights of EU citizens with respect to the EU institutions, and no new rights should be "invented" in connection with the charter.