The FRA Director, Morten Kjaerum, was speaking at an event in Rome on 13 October, organised by the Italian Presidency of the EU. It brought together the chairs of national parliamentary committees competent for fundamental rights from many Member States. His overarching message was that “EU institutions will need the support and cooperation of national parliaments in protecting fundamental rights, which lie at the very heart of the European project”.

He spoke of how the EU and its Member States, governments and national parliaments need to work hand-in-hand and assume joint responsibility for promoting and protecting fundamental rights.

He cited the example of data protection and the fallout from the revelations of electronic surveillance programmes. They revealed weaknesses in democratic accountability and oversight. He recognised the European Parliament’s prioritisation of this issue and welcomed plans to hold an inter-parliamentary meeting on parliamentary oversight mechanisms in data protection. He used this example to illustrate how national parliaments, governments, EU institutions and agencies must work together to integrate fundamental rights into the design of security policies, a point he made recently at a conference on the EU’s internal security strategy.

Morten Kjaerum reminded delegates that the EU Treaties themselves spell out the role national parliaments should play in evaluating the implementation of EU policies in the area of freedom, security and justice. He also highlighted the vital role national parliamentary committees play as guardians of EU values: “You can review national laws and policies while looking at how the EU’s core values are upheld in your country. And you are the filter which guarantees that EU directives are transposed in a fundamental rights-compliant way.”

Looking to the future, the FRA Director spoke of the need for an internal fundamental rights strategy and a fundamental rights policy cycle, as outlined in FRA’s Annual report. This would mirror the human rights framework and action plan that exist for the EU’s external policies. As part of this, national parliaments should be centrally involved in such a policy cycle to help feed into policy making at EU level.

He also encouraged creating a network of parliamentary committees competent for fundamental rights that could meet annually, compare experiences and learn from each other. From FRA’s side, he mentioned how the first-ever meeting of FRA national parliamentary focal points will take place next year.

In concluding, he reminded participants that “we have more to gain from working together than working alone. In essence, this is what European cooperation is all about.”