Verbatim report of proceedings

Wednesday, 14 September 2022 - Strasbourg

Situation of fundamental rights in the EU in 2020 and 2021 (debate)

  Frances Fitzgerald (PPE). – Mr President, human rights have been at the core of our Union from the very beginning. Yet lately we see a rise in authoritarianism where the flouting of human rights is widespread and our fundamental values and ideals have been neglected and ignored far too often.

Right now it is about autocracy versus democracy. Choose where you stand because European values are in peril.

The full enjoyment of human rights and fundamental values within EU Member States can never be in question. The spirit of compromise is indeed integral in politics. But the EU cannot ever compromise on its values. They are core. There cannot be a halfway house for some Member States.

Yet all Member States do have to do far more for the full enjoyment of rights by all citizens. We've already heard today, for example, about the disability issues. We must be setting the standards because we are supposed to be and, indeed, historically have been leaders in the field of human rights. We cannot stand on the global moral high ground if we do not embody that vision ourselves.

We must renew and intensify our efforts to build a better European Union, one that ensures freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law for all our citizens. There is a big task to be undertaken by all of us.