Luxembourg Court should not have jurisdiction on human rights charter
MEP Esko Seppänen in a press conference 4.10.2002
At a meeting on the Convention on the Future of Europe on 3 October 2002,
Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs Antonio Vitorino introduced a proposal
from a working group which he chairs on The Charter of the Fundamental Rights.
The working group wants the Charter, including its human rights elements, to
be under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. Surely,
this is a political court compared to the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
It seems that the working group wants to weaken and undermine the authority
of the Council of Europe and its all-European Strasbourg court.
The Strasbourg court is free of charge to those who appeal to it. On the
other hand, it is very expensive to take a case to the Luxembourg court. A
decision has to be taken on which one has the higher authority. I am afraid that
the Luxembourg court will be chosen.
Mr. Vitorino told us that the Charter of the Fundamental Rights is a
political compromise. How can a political compromise be made on human rights?
They either exist or they do not. Moreover, human rights cannot be properly
upheld under the jurisdiction of the political wills of the Luxembourg judges.
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