Fundamental Rights Agency must seek effective role

10.55.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 15th Jan 2008

The European Parliament is set to give its opinion on the first 5-year programme of the European Union's new Fundamental Rights Agency, which has been set up to advise the EU and its Member States about human rights issues.

Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP, European Justice Spokeswoman for the Liberal Democrats said:

"The Fundamental Rights Agency has a valuable role to play in reassuring citizens that EU institutions and governments will uphold human rights when they implement EU law.

"It is a matter of regret that member states have already weakened the Agency by denying it a remit in the increasingly important area of policing and criminal cooperation or the right to make a judgement on whether a particular Member State has infringed EU human rights conditions such that sanctions should be applied.

"The Agency should concentrate on an essential list of priorities, though rather wider than the minimalist list of the rapporteur Mr Cashman. We need to push the Member States to take the Agency seriously, which in their failure so far to appoint a director they are neglecting to do."