Your Human Rights in the European Union: OPEN LETTER TO THE MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION MR. JYRKI KATAINEN Mr. Jyrki Katainen Member of the European Commission European Commission,Brussels 22.9.2014 Dear Mr.Katainen I am addressing this letter to you as a citizen of the EU in order to express to you my deepest concern from the contents of your written reply that you gave on the 17th of September 2014, to members of European Parliament belonging to GUE-NGL, that submitted a written question to the European Commission concerning the UN report on violations of human rights in Greece as a result of the implementation of austerity measures(005633/2014). In your reply you mention,among other things, the following: ”The Commission is committed to ensuring that, when implementing EC law, Member States respect the rights enshrined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. However, the programme documents are not EC law, but instruments agreed between Greece and its lenders: as such, the Charter cannot be used as a reference, and it is for Greece to ensure that its own obligations on fundamental rights are respected.” As an EU citizen I really feel ashamed by your reply, which is also erroneous. Instead of the Commission doing everything possible to safeguard the respect of human rights in Greece, as it did during the period of the military dictatorship, it is attempting with your answer to hide behind legalistic creations, and conclude that the Loan Agreement lies out of the scope of implementation of the Charter since it is not EC law but a bilateral issue, between Greece and its lenders. This does not make sense, since the Loan Agreement of May 2010 in its article 14.2 mentions that, it is the exclusive jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the EU to settle disputes which may arise between the parties. Consequently, the Loan Agreement is within the framework of EC law. But even if it wasnt, as is mentioned in your reply, it should be recalled that many of the articles of the Charter are included in the Lisbon Treaty - like for example Art. 2 concerning the respect for human dignity - and The Lisbon Agreement is implemented by all Member States of the EU. I would be obliged if you could correct this mistake, which devastates even more the reliability of the EU in the eyes of its people, and apologize, at least, to those EU citizens whose human rights are no longer protected by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, as was mentioned in your written reply. Please accept Mr.Katainen, the assurances of my highest consideration, Leonidas Chrysanthopoulos Ambassador ad.H. Aigion, Greece
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 23:46:11 +0000
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