Verbatim report of proceedings

Tuesday, 8 September 2015 - Strasbourg

Situation of fundamental rights in the EU (2013-2014) (A8-0230/2015 - Laura Ferrara)

  Claudia Tapardel (S&D), in writing. ‒ Human rights are at the core of the EU’s principles and policies. It is one of the Union's most precious foundations. Nevertheless, institutional players and NGO's have been reporting on a high number of violations of fundamental rights within the territory of EU Member States, particularly against ethnic minority groups. I believe that such violations should not be accepted or tolerated and we must come up with remedies to outstanding problems. The current report, which I supported in the plenary vote, offers few insights and recommendations on how to deal with these problems. It calls on Member States to formulate an internal strategy on fundamental rights in the EU based on the enforcement of Article 2 of the EU Treaty. And it looks into thematic issues, including: equality, increasing unemployment, poverty, precarious working and living conditions, as well as social exclusion and isolation. Although these recommendations relate to the period 2013-2014, they are even more valid for today, as flows of migrants and refugees into the EU increase. Now more than ever the EU must ensure a universal respect for fundamental rights regardless to sex, religion, sexual orientation or skin colour.