Interview
In an interview with Open Citizenship, the director of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (Frau), Morten Kjaerum, elaborates non-discrimination and political rights of EU citizens as well as third-country nationals. Mr. Kjaerum was founding director of the Danish Institute for Human Rights and elected member for the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
In its 2010 Report on EU Citizenship, the EC lists 25 concrete actions to strengthen existing rights in order to ‘improve the daily life of EU citizens’. Looking ahead, what additional social and political rights do you think should be included for EU citizens? What specific actions does your agency propose that would implement and guarantee those rights?
The Commission has presented a comprehensive set of proposals that cover all areas of EU competence. It is up to the Member States to agree on expanding the EU’s competence regarding social and political rights. In regard to the Commission’s report, it is important to note the statement of its intention to strictly enforce EU rules, including non-discrimination to facilitate free movement of EU citizens and their third-country family members. Another area of particular interest is the legislative initiative to improve the protection of persons suspected and accused in criminal proceedings, which includes the so-called ‘Letter of Rights’ that will represent a significant step forward, especially for children involved in criminal proceedings. The FRA will support these initiatives in the context of its mandate collecting robust and comparable data on fundamental rights issues. Furthermore, it will continue its efforts to highlight the relevance, but also the applicability, of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
The EC has released numerous documents urging Member States to enhance third-country nationals’ participation in political life. Does your agency foresee any actions to enable their political participation at the EU level, for example in EP elections or the ECI? More generally, what relationship do you see in the long-term between EU citizens and third-country nationals? Do you think third-country nationals could play a larger social or political role in the EU? Could they eventually become EU citizens without acquiring national citizenship?
According to the Common Basic Principle for immigrant integration, immigrants should have a voice in the formulation of policies that directly affect them, which will also enhance their sense of belonging. However, it is up to the Member States to decide how they could become involved in democratic processes. In many Member States immigrant groups, and national or local governments, are engaged in dialogue. Political participation at EU level in the strict sense of participation in national voting procedures is currently only allowed for EU citizens. However, there are several other ways through which third-country nationals make their voices heard, for instance through their participation in trade unions or public consultation processes.
In its comments to the EU’s Stockholm Programme, your agency calls upon Member States to integrate the Roma community by promoting their inclusion into the educational system and labour and housing markets. As integration is a two-way process, in that both the host society and the minority group must make concessions to the other, which concessions do you see coming from each side?
Roma are EU citizens and as such are not called upon to ‘integrate’. Member States have an obligation to ensure their citizens are not discriminated against and that they are all ‘included’ in social, economic and political life. In this regard, Member States, local authorities and civil society, in particular Romani organisations, should work together with those Roma who suffer from social exclusion to convince them of the importance of full participation in social life, for example by sending their children to school regularly. In order to achieve this successfully they must also convince the Roma concerned that they are actively taking effective steps to combat discrimination and segregation providing equal access to services.
What actions, if any, should the EC take against Member States that violate the right of non-discrimination or other rights attached to EU citizenship? One obvious example is the expulsion of the Roma in France, Spain, Hungary, and Italy.
The European Commission, as guardian of the Treaties, has a range of instruments at its disposal to ensure effective implementation of EU law. The FRA supports this task by providing the necessary evidence on fundamental rights violations through the collection of robust and comparable data.
An important part of your work is to inform people about their rights. What role do you think civil society could play to support these efforts? What specific actions could an organisation like Citizens For Europe take to develop citizenship rights in the Union?
Civil society has a crucial role to play in making people more aware of their rights. This is done effectively through initiatives at national and, in particular, at the local level. At EU level it is very difficult to reach people in the EU, also because of language differences. The European Commission has proposed the designation of 2013 as the European Year of Citizens to strengthen citizens’ awareness of their EU citizenship status, their rights and the meaning of those rights in their daily lives. In this context, organisations such as Citizens For Europe could use the funding that will become available to engage in more awareness and educational activities.
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