Commissie Burgerlijke Vrijheden voor Morten Kjaerum als directeur van het Bureau voor de grondrechten (en)

MEPs in Civil Liberties Committee unanimously selected Morten Kjaerum from Denmark as their first choice for director of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency on Monday, after a public hearing with the two candidates shortlisted by the European Commission. The other candidate was Dario Carminati. Parliament's Conference of Presidents now needs to approve this recommendation, with the final choice being made by the Agency's Management Board.

The first applicant interviewed was Dario Carminati (born in Italy, 1952), a senior UNCHR member with 27 years of experience, currently representative of the Angola delegation. "The Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) can become an important step forward to reinforce a global EU vision towards Human Rights", he said. Mr Carminati felt that the agency's priorities should be to provide suggestions and advice on EU legislation and the implementation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, to address emerging national human rights issues and to reduce the gap between citizens, EU institutions and national parliaments by engaging all parties in a fruitful dialogue.

Morten Kjaerum (born in Denmark, 1957), has 23 years of human rights experience and currently directs the Danish Institute for Human Rights. He felt that "the FRA is a good possibility to strengthen human rights" and should be "highly interactive" with the institutional and civil society networks. "I would like to create a focal point for innovative work, a place you turn to for an inspiring debate", he said. Mr Kjaerum also stressed that, if appointed as director, he would seek new ways to step up dialogue with MEPs, including holding informal workshops on sensitive topics.

National minorities

Asked by Henri Lax (ALDE, FI), and Viktoria Mohacsi (ALDE, HU), about what role the agency should play in improving protection and understanding of national minorities, both candidates agreed that this issue should become one of the FRA's priorities. "Linguistic, cultural, ethnic discrimination... they are all different angles of the same problem. The agency should address all forms of discrimination with a global strategy", said Mr Carminati. Mr Kjaerum added: "we should team up with the related European committees, develop a joint programme and create new mechanisms to promote the rights of minority communities".

Do you dare to name and shame?

Asked by Kathalijne Buitenweg i (Greens/EFA, NL), about what to do when a national government breaches human rights and how to deal with criticism of individual EU Member States, Mr Carminati believed that "it is more important to promote the Agency's positive role, developing a constructive dialogue, than to point fingers".  Mr Kjaerum observed that "naming and shaming is important but it would never be my first approach. I would only use it if dialogue fails and there are no other means to address the problem".

Counter-terrorism and privacy rights

Magda Kósáná Kováks (PES, HU) asked the Danish candidate about the Agency's justice and security priorities. Mr Kjaerum replied that he was very happy to see that privacy rights are part of the FRA's mandate, noting that "privacy rights are being squeezed by the fight against terrorism" and "we need a profound discussion on this".

For Kinga Gal (EPP-ED, HU) and Ewa Klamt (EPP-ED, DE), key concerns were how to ensure the agency's independence vis-à-vis the Council and other EU institutions and how to improve co-operation with NGOs and civil society. Other issues discussed by various members include how to best to address children's rights, the case of Roma discrimination and the fight for equal opportunities.

The Committee's opinion will now be on the agenda of Thursday's meeting of the EP Conference of Presidents for approval. The EU Council was to hold similar hearings with both candidates on Monday afternoon. The FRA's management board will make the final appointment, taking the Council's and Parliament's opinions into account. The FRA was created in March 2007.

11/02/2008

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

In the chair : Gérard Deprez (ALDE, BE)