Activities of Louis MICHEL related to 2016/2009(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Situation of fundamental rights in the European Union in 2015 (A8-0345/2016 - József Nagy) FR
Amendments (77)
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 8 a (new)
Citation 8 a (new)
- having regard to the UN Convention of 1949 for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation or the Prostitution of Others,
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 15 a (new)
Citation 15 a (new)
– having regard to its resolution of 15 April 2015 on the occasion of International Roma Day - anti-Gypsyism - in Europe and EU recognition of the memorial day of the Roma genocide during World War II 14,
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 33 a (new)
Citation 33 a (new)
- having regard to its resolution of 25 February 2014 with recommendations to the Commission on combating Violence Against Women (2013/2004(INL)),
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 33 b (new)
Citation 33 b (new)
- having regard to its resolution of 9 June 2015 on the EU Strategy for equality between women and men post 2015,
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 37 a (new)
Citation 37 a (new)
- having regard to its resolution of 11 September 2013 on endangered European languages and linguistic diversity in the European Union,
Amendment 97 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 46 a (new)
Citation 46 a (new)
- having regard to the List of actions by the European Commission to advance LGBTI Equality, presented at the EPSCO Council on 7 December 2015,
Amendment 108 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 48 a (new)
Citation 48 a (new)
- having regard to the European Court of Justice conclusion on the case CHEZ Razpredelenie Bulgaria AD v Komisia za zashtita ot diskriminatsia, of 16 July 2015, case C-83/14,
Amendment 153 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas acts of terrorism constitute one of the most serious violations of fundamental rights and freedoms; whereas it is necessary to have adequate tools in place to protect EU citizens and residents and to respond properly to such violations within the framework of the rule of law and fundamental rights;
Amendment 170 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas trafficking in human beings is a serious crime often committed within the framework of organised crime, constitutes a gross violation of fundamental rights, disproportionately affects women and girls and is explicitly prohibited by the Charter;
Amendment 190 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas racism, xenophobia and hate crimediscrimination, hate crime and hate speech, motivated by racism, xenophobia, or bias against a person' religion or belief, age, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity, threaten the values of the EU and its Member States; whereas there is an increase in hate speech among political forces and increasing xenophobia and other bias in important sectors of the population;
Amendment 205 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas gender-based violence and violence against women is still ‘silently’ tolerated in many places and a zero tolerance approach is necessary;
Amendment 258 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital O a (new)
Recital O a (new)
Oa. whereas based on Commission proposals, the Justice and Home Affairs Council adopted in September 2015 two Decisions to relocate 160,000 asylum seekers from Italy and Greece, to assist them in dealing with the pressures of the refugee crisis;
Amendment 264 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital O b (new)
Recital O b (new)
Ob. whereas in the European Union the respect of Fundamental Rights is guaranteed both at national level by Member´s State constitutional democratic systems and at the EU level by the Charter;
Amendment 271 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital O c (new)
Recital O c (new)
Oc. whereas the European Commission stated that in some Member States main issues which threaten the rule of law have not been resolved;
Amendment 272 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital O d (new)
Recital O d (new)
Od. whereas the European Court of Justice in its ruling on 6 October 2015 declared the old Safe Harbour framework invalid; whereas the Court stressed in this regard the right, guaranteed by the Charter, to the protection of personal data and the task with which the national supervisory authorities are entrusted under the Charter;
Amendment 274 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital O e (new)
Recital O e (new)
Oe. whereas according to FRA's field work research with public officials and professionals prevailing negative social attitudes and stereotypes represent a major barrier to tackling discrimination and hate crime against LGBT persons;
Amendment 275 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital O f (new)
Recital O f (new)
Of. whereas recent reports show an increase in fear and insecurity amongst the Jewish and Muslim communities in the EU; http://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra-2015- paper-01-2015-post-paris-attacks-fundamental-rights- considerations-0_en.pdf;
Amendment 276 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital O g (new)
Recital O g (new)
Og. whereas according to a research by the European Network Against Racism, people of African descent are particularly victims of discrimination and racism, in particular police violence and hate crime;
Amendment 289 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Strongly deplores the fact that the Council has still not adopted the 2008 proposal for a directive on implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation; welcomes the prioritisation of this directive by the Commission; reiterates its call to the Council to adopt the proposal as soon as possible;
Amendment 301 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Reiterates its call for respect for dignity at the end of life, notably by ensuring that decisions expressed in living wills are recognised and respected;
Amendment 346 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Considers that the social inclusion and cultural integration of refugees and migrants in the host society is a dynamic, two-dimensional process (involving rights and duties), representing a challenge and an opportunity that requires responsibilities and efforts both by the refugees and by the Member States, their local and regional administrations and host communities;
Amendment 352 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Deplores that between September and December 2015 the Commission adopted 49 infringement decisions against Member States for inadequate implementation of legislation making up the Common European Asylum system;
Amendment 357 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Deplores that many Member Sates didn't respect their commitments under the temporary emergency relocation schemes and the European resettlement scheme;
Amendment 358 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 c (new)
Paragraph 2 c (new)
2c. Underlines the fundamental right to seek asylum; encourages the EU and the Member States to open up and devote sufficient resources to create new safe and legal possibilities and channels for asylum seekers to enter the European Union, so as to reduce the risks inherent in attempting to enter illegally and to combat human trafficking and smuggling networks that profit from endangering the lives of migrants and from their sexual and labour exploitation;
Amendment 361 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 d (new)
Paragraph 2 d (new)
2d. Urges Member States to guarantee reception conditions in compliance with existing fundamental rights and asylum legislation, with special attention paid to vulnerable people and to reducing the risk of social exclusion of asylum seekers; calls on the Commission to monitor the implementation of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS), and in particular of Directive 2013/32/EU, with specific attention to asylum seekers in need of special procedural guarantees;
Amendment 363 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 e (new)
Paragraph 2 e (new)
2e. Calls on Member States to refrain from inciting fear and hatred in their citizens towards migrants and asylum- seekers for political gains, therefore, calls on Member States to put an end to their strongly biased xenophobic communication strategies (such as anti- refugee billboard campaigns);
Amendment 370 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls on Member States to apply cultural, political and social inclusion policies as swiftly as possible and with adequate dedicated resources; recalls that social inclusion policies must engage local, regional and national instituhighlights the fact that the principles of equal treatment, non-discriminations and should focus on individuals rather than on groups or communities, as this can lead to sequal opportunities should always be ensured when designing and implementing social inclusion and integregation policy and measure;
Amendment 389 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Reiterates that intercultural and inter-religious tolerance needs to be promoted via constant efforts and extensive dialogue and that the crisis arising from the waves of migration cannot be tackled without the involvement of all relevant state and non-state actors, including churches and religious organisations;
Amendment 400 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Calls on the EU and the Member States to develop comprehensive policies to end all forms of violence against women and girls, and specific measures to ensure that women and girls refugees and asylum seekers are protected and get access to justice and to ensure that asylum policies and procedures are gender sensitive to help women and girls to escape or denounce male violence;
Amendment 408 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 2 a (new)
Subheading 2 a (new)
Religious freedom
Amendment 409 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Deplores increasing Islamophobia and some political parties’ exploitation of terrorist acts and migration flows in order to arouse hatred of the Muslim community; deplores similarly the fresh upsurge in anti-Semitic acts and the renewed sense of insecurity that is causing within the Jewish community; calls on Member States to take a zero- tolerance approach and to impose appropriate and deterrent penalties for any act of hatred or discrimination against religious communities, and to promote religious tolerance through, in particular, intercultural dialogue involving all relevant stakeholders and awareness-raising campaigns in schools;
Amendment 469 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 c (new)
Paragraph 7 c (new)
7c. Recommends that Member States' counter-radicalisation and counter- terrorism criminal or administrative measures ensure that responses are proportionate and that any restriction to the enjoyment of human rights are subject to judicial review and/or independent oversight; encourages Member States to ensure that such policies do not create 'suspect categories' broadly based on religious affiliations or practices, nor cultivate environments of stereotyping and religious hatred;
Amendment 478 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Points up the fact that migrants and refugees making use of irregular migration channels to come to Europe are especially at risk of being trafficked and that unaccompanied minors are being particularly targeted by criminal networks; points out that establishing legal migration channels is a key factor in combating irregular migration, smuggler and trafficker networks, and the violations of fundamental rights with which they are inextricably bound up; calls therefore on the EU and Member States to step up their efforts to establish legal migration channels and, in particular, to bring about an ambitious European resettlement programme;
Amendment 528 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 5
Subheading 5
Hate crime, hate speech and xenophobia on the rise
Amendment 562 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Is concerned by increasing racism and xenophobia in the form of Afrophobia, anti-Gypsyism, Anti- Semitism, Islamophobia and anti-migrant sentiment;
Amendment 563 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 b (new)
Paragraph 13 b (new)
13b. Condemns incidents of hate crime and speech motivated by racism, xenophobia or religious intolerance or by bias against a person's disability, sexual orientation or gender identity, which occur in the EU on a daily basis; calls for the adoption of the proposed 2008 Equal Treatment Directive which is still pending for approval by the Council; considers it a condition to secure a consolidated and coherent EU law framework against discrimination, also protecting from discrimination on the grounds of religion and belief, disability, age and sexual orientation outside of employment;
Amendment 567 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 c (new)
Paragraph 13 c (new)
13c. Deplores increasing levels of hate speech from within certain institutions, political parties, individuals and media;
Amendment 568 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 d (new)
Paragraph 13 d (new)
13d. Expresses its concern at the lack of reporting of hate crimes by victims due to inadequate safeguards and failure of authorities to properly investigate and bring convictions for hate crimes in Member States;
Amendment 570 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 e (new)
Paragraph 13 e (new)
13e. Expresses its concern that several Member States have not correctly transposed the provisions of Framework Decision 2008/913/JHA; calls on Member States to implement the Framework Decision on Combatting Racism and Xenophobia and the new Victims of Crime Directive and for the Commission to monitor the transposition of these instruments and to launch infringement procedures against those Member States that fail to transpose them;
Amendment 571 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 f (new)
Paragraph 13 f (new)
13f. Calls on the Commission to propose a review of the Framework Decision on combating certain forms and expressions of racism and xenophobia by means of criminal law to include other forms of bias-motivated crime, including on grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression;
Amendment 582 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Welcomes the annual EU Colloquium on Fundamental Rights and the appointment of Coordinators on anti- Semitism and anti-Muslim hatred; encourages the Commission to appoint Coordinators on Afrophobia and anti- Gypsyism and recommends adoption of European frameworks for national strategies to combat Afrophobia, anti- Gypsyism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia;
Amendment 584 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 b (new)
Paragraph 14 b (new)
14b. Calls on the Commission to support training programmes for law enforcement and judicial authorities, and for the relevant EU agencies, in preventing and tackling discriminatory practices and hate crime; calls on the Member States to provide the authorities responsible for investigation and prosecution with practical tools and skills to enable them to identify and deal with the offences covered by the Framework Decision, and to interact and communicate with victims;
Amendment 595 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Calls on the EU and the Member States to strengthen the role of human rights education in national curricula as a tool for preventing racism, homophobia and related intolerance, and calls for greater rights awareness;
Amendment 600 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 – subparagraph 1 (new)
Paragraph 15 – subparagraph 1 (new)
Gender Equality and LGBTI Rights
Amendment 601 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Amendment 602 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 b (new)
Paragraph 15 b (new)
15b. Notes with concern that FRA's findings show that many public officials and professionals, including healthcare professionals, perceive homosexuality as a pathological condition or disease. This can undermine efforts to protect and promote the fundamental rights of LGBTI persons;
Amendment 603 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 c (new)
Paragraph 15 c (new)
15c. Calls on EU Member States to pursue efforts to effectively implement relevant legislation prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in employment. This includes ensuring that LGBTI people, in particular, are fully informed of their rights, that discrimination victims are encouraged to lodge formal complaints, and that they are supported in doing so;
Amendment 604 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 d (new)
Paragraph 15 d (new)
15d. Notes that discrimination based on sexual orientation is still widely underreported, hampering assessments of the effi-ciency of national laws implementing Council Directive 2000/78/EC establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation (Employment Equality Directive) in this field;
Amendment 605 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 e (new)
Paragraph 15 e (new)
15e. Notes the intersectionality between gender and other grounds of discrimination and the disproportionate impact of multiple discrimination on women; encourages Member States to work with regional and local authorities, law enforcement bodies, national equality bodies and civil society organisations to increase monitoring of the intersectionality between different grounds of discrimination and gender;
Amendment 635 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Highlights that improvements are still needed to combat violence against women and girls, and calls on the Member States and the EU to sign and ratify the Istanbul Convention following the launch of the procedure by the Commission in March 2016;
Amendment 649 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Urges Member States to lead more targeted awareness-raising campaigns, to prevent andviolence, to encourage women to report offences, to impose appropriate and deterrent penalties on offenders, to protect victims of violence and to protect their rights without delay in line with the Victims’ Rights Directive;
Amendment 655 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Calls on the Commission to assess the implementation of the Directive 2011/99/EU on the European Protection Order with regards to violence against women;
Amendment 662 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Highlights that no cultural, religious, national or ethnic background can justify any form of gender-based violence and that EU and national authorities should strengthen their cooperation, in particular through stepped-up exchanges of good practices and improved gathering and comparability of data on all forms of violence against women;
Amendment 672 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18a. Stresses that female genital mutilation is an extremely serious form of violence against women; calls on the Member States to raise the awareness of all those concerned by focusing their anti- FGM measures on prevention; further urges Member States to cooperate fully with one another so as to improve data collection and understanding of the phenomenon, in order to optimise the results of their action to protect women and girls from such mutilation;
Amendment 703 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 7
Subheading 7
Children and unaccompanied children
Amendment 719 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Calls for a focus on violence against children at all levels, from homes to schools, public places and detention centres for migrants; encourages the European Commission to strengthen peer-learning between Member States on how to best address school bullying, in particular when it affects specific groups such as children with disabilities, LGBTI children or children from minority ethnic background;
Amendment 730 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Calls for a multi-stage system in child protection based on the best interests of the child, which should not be designed to punish parents and care-givers, but and the full respect of his or her Fundamental Rights, which should be designed to send a clear message that all forms of physical and emotional violence against children are unacceptable, and in which the separation of the child from the family would be the very last step;
Amendment 746 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Highlights that child protection should be enhanced in the digital world and calls for further cooperation between the private and public sectors; encourages those involved to follow good examples of prevention and complaint mechanisms in online social media and to implement these EU-wide; further takes the view that children should, as a matter of course, be properly informed about the dangers of the internet, for example by means of awareness raising campaigns and school programmes;
Amendment 751 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Calls for a code of conduct on protecting children’s rights online and offline in cyber space, and recalls that in the fight against cybercrime by law enforcement authorities special attention needs to be paid to crimes against children; stresses in this connection the role of Europol and the importance of Member States cooperating with one another and with Europol to combat this type of crime, and in particular to combat the online sexual exploitation of children;
Amendment 770 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28 a (new)
Paragraph 28 a (new)
28 a. Highlights that According to the Commission Report on the progress made in the fight against trafficking in human beings (2016) at least 15 % of the registered victims were children;
Amendment 777 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Highlights that traditional national minorities who have been living together with or alongside traditional majority cultures for centuries in Europe are facing the negative consequences of the migration crisis, i.e. mistrust towards non- majority autochthonous minorities; believes that the solution to this problem lies in the establishment of minimum standards on protecting the rights of traditional minorities, as preserving European heritage gives added value to diversity;e fact that the fundamental rights of persons belonging to minority groups are still being violated
Amendment 778 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Highlights that traditional national minorities who have been living together with or alongside traditional majority cultures for centuries in Europe are facing the negative consequences of the migration crisis, i.e. mistrust towards non- majority autochthonous minorities; believes that the solution to this problem lies in the establishment of minimum standards on protecting the rights of traditional minorities, as preserving European heritage gives added value to diversitynational or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities are still facing discriminations in the EU;
Amendment 787 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29 a (new)
Paragraph 29 a (new)
29 a. Stresses that in its resolution of 11 September 2013, the European Parliament reminded that the Commission should pay attention to the fact that with their policies, some Member States and regions are endangering the survival of languages inside their borders, even if those languages are not in danger in the European context and called on the Commission to consider the administrative and legislative obstacles posed to projects relating to these languages. Deplores that this is still an ongoing issue and urges the Member States to take all necessary actions in order to take into thorough consideration the minority rights perspective and to ensure the right to use a minority language and protect linguistic diversity within the Union.
Amendment 857 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
Paragraph 39
39. Highlights that discrimination on the basis of age is often combined with other forms of discrimination, such as discrimination on grounds of race and ethnicity, religion, disability, health, sexual orientation and gender identity or socio- economic conditions;
Amendment 887 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40 a (new)
Paragraph 40 a (new)
40 a. recalls the European Court of Justice conclusion on the case CHEZ Razpredelenie Bulgaria AD v Komisia za zashtita ot diskriminatsia stating that the principle of equal treatment contained in the Directive "protects not only persons who are themselves a member of a particular race or ethnic group, but also those who are not members of such a group but suffer particular disadvantage or less favourable treatment on one of those grounds";
Amendment 892 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40 b (new)
Paragraph 40 b (new)
40 b. calls on Member States, in the light of the Commission's Report on the implementation of the EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies 2015, to put in place specific measures to fight racial discrimination against Roma, and to mainstream non-discrimination policies within other EU policies such as employment and structural funds;
Amendment 907 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 11 a (new)
Subheading 11 a (new)
Upholding procedurals rights, judicial system and the rule of law (new heading)
Amendment 908 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41 b (new)
Paragraph 41 b (new)
41 b. Believes that to address the rule of law concerns raised about some EU Member States in 2015 and prevent further rule of law crises, all relevant actors at national level, including governments, parliaments and the judiciary, need to step up efforts to uphold and reinforce the rule of law;
Amendment 909 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41 c (new)
Paragraph 41 c (new)
41 c. Notes that regular exchange with the EU, and among the Member States themselves, based on objective comparative criteria (such as indicators) and contextual assessments, could be an important element to mitigate or prevent any rule of law problems in the future;
Amendment 916 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 11 a (new)
Subheading 11 a (new)
New technologies and fundamental rights
Amendment 917 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41 a (new)
Paragraph 41 a (new)
41a. Stresses the need to consider the impact which some new technologies – such as drones – can have on fundamental rights and in particular on the right to privacy; also highlights the challenge presented by the implications of widespread internet access for fundamental rights, particularly as regards protecting personal data and combating online harassment and trafficking in human beings;
Amendment 925 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 42
Paragraph 42
42. Notes the rise in euroscepticism and violent political views, and therefore urges the EU and its Member States to strengthen participation by citizens in EU matters so that Europeans understand that their voices are being heard in the EU and that policymakers are responsive to public opinion expressedand civil society organizations' in EU matters so that Europeans can voice their concerns and express their opinions through democratic channels;
Amendment 927 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 42 a (new)
Paragraph 42 a (new)
42a. Stresses the need to inform European citizens and residents, as well as migrants and refugees, of the importance of the values on which the Union is founded and which are set out in Article 2 of the Treaty; takes the view that awareness-raising campaigns should be set up, e.g. as part of school curricula and migrant assistance programmes;
Amendment 930 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 42 b (new)
Paragraph 42 b (new)
42b. Expresses deep alarm at recent developments in some Member States vis- à-vis respect for the rule of law; stresses that the rule of law is one of the EU’s founding values and is inseparably yoked to respect for human rights; also stresses that it is the responsibility of the Union to ensure that it is fully respected both by accession candidates and by Member States; notes in this connection that every Member State should be continually, officially and objectively monitored as to its respect for the rule of law;
Amendment 943 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 44
Paragraph 44
44. Notes that civil society organisations, including volunteering and youth work, play a key role in social and civic participation and calls on the EU and the Member States to support and to promote their work;
Amendment 962 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46 a (new)
Paragraph 46 a (new)
46 a. Reiterates the importance of the Charter awareness raising. The 2015 Eurobarometer survey on awareness of the Charter showed that the interest on information about the rights people enjoy under the Charter remains high;
Amendment 967 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46 b (new)
Paragraph 46 b (new)
46 b. Calls on EU Member States to complement their efforts with more proactive policy initiatives. This could include a pronounced emphasis on mainstreaming Charter obligations in EU-relevant legislative files and dedicated policymaking to promote awareness of the Charter rights among target groups;