having regard to its opinion of 16 February 2000 on the process of drawing up a Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CdR 327/1999 fin)(6), its resolution of 20 September 2000 on the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CdR 140/2000 fin)(7) and its resolution of 13 December 2000 on the approval of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CdR 381/2000 fin)(8);

G. whereas in the Charter of fundamental rights, on the basis of the Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine, the EU has taken fresh steps to lay down Europe-wide ethical guidelines; whereas Article 3 of the Charter states that ‘Everyone has the right to respect for his or her physical and mental integrity’ and that ‘In the fields of medicine and biology, the following must be respected in particular: . the free and informed consent of the person concerned, according to the procedures laid down by law, . the prohibition of eugenic practices, in pa ...[+++]rticular those aiming at the selection of persons, . the prohibition on making the human body and its parts a source of financial gain, . [and] the prohibition of the reproductive cloning of human beings’ and whereas these principles represent minimum requirements for EU legislators and do not constitute an exhaustive list of all necessary regulations,

– Mr President, the first problem, as I see it, with the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, no matter how noble its intention, is the internal inconsistency of a document which, while referring only to European Union institutions, strays into areas of jurisdiction where the EU has no current competence – with potentially undesirable consequences.

For socialists and social democrats from across Europe, the adoption of the Charter also represents the fulfilment of a commitment to our electorate; we contested the elections with a manifesto containing twenty-one priorities, and a fundamental one among them was to push for a European Charter of Rights in order to enshrine the fundamental civil, economic, social and cultural rights of the citizens of the Union.

Concerning the action to be taken on the European Charter for Small Enterprises, it should be recalled that the European Council held in Santa Maria da Feira on 19-20 June 2000 welcomed the adoption of the Charter and stressed the importance of SMEs for growth, competitiveness and employment in the Union.

Among the other international conventions protecting human rights and minorities, Croatia has ratified the European Convention on the Prevention of Torture, the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages but has to sign the 1996 European Social Charter.