Core values ​​of the European Union

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The basic values ​​of the European Union are anchored in Art. 2 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU). They are: human dignity , freedom , democracy , equality , the rule of law and the protection of human rights including minority rights .

According to Art. 49 TEU, respect for these values ​​and the commitment to promote them are the prerequisites for a European state to join the EU .

Values ​​since December 1, 2009

Article 2 TEU, as amended by the Lisbon Treaty , states:

The values ​​on which the Union is founded are respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities . These values ​​are common to all Member States in a society characterized by pluralism , non- discrimination , tolerance , justice , solidarity and equality between women and men .

Building on this, Art. 3 TEU defines the European Union's goal as promoting peace , the values ​​of the Union and the well-being of its peoples. In addition, Art. 6 TEU defines the fundamental rights of the European Union .

According to Art. 7 TEU, a violation of the values ​​of the European Union can be punished with the suspension of EU membership . This measure was first initiated in September 2018 by the European Parliament against the government of Hungary.

The values ​​of Art. 2 TEU cannot be conclusively defined on their own. Rather, they are described as "open [...] to the influx of changing ideas about state and constitutional theory and thus also to various types of concretization, without, however, completely changing the content, ie. H. to lose their continuity and sink to a mere empty formula ”.

Art. 2 TEU clarifies the idea of ​​the European Union as a community of values, not just as an economic community. However, it cannot be concluded from the EUV that there is a clear set of values ​​for Europe. For example, Greek philosophy, Roman law and Christianity are named as the origin of the values ​​that unite Europeans, and also “the motives of the French Revolution, that is freedom, equality and fraternity, the system of parliamentary democracy, the social Market economy and also the responsibility of humans for their neighbor and the environment ”as values.

In the Berlin Declaration , which the 27 heads of state and government signed on March 25, 2007 at an EU summit meeting on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the EU, the importance of the EU as a community of values ​​was again emphasized.

In 2015, in its resolution of 10 June 2015 on the situation in Hungary, the European Parliament pointed out that “the death penalty is not linked to the values ​​of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, on which the Union is founded is compatible and that, consequently, a Member State that would reintroduce the death penalty would be in breach of the Treaties and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU ”, recalling that“ a serious violation of the provisions of Article 2 TEU would trigger the initiation of the procedure according to Article 7 by a member state. "All EU member states are signatories of the 13th Additional Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) of May 3, 2002, which - more precisely than Article 2 ECHR and as in the 6th additional protocol to the ECHR, which limits the death penalty to times of war - an absolute ban on T sets death penalty in both peacetime and wartime . (See also: International and European legal situation on the death penalty .)

At the beginning of 2016, the EU Commission opened proceedings against Poland for possible violations of the rule of law, this being the first and so far (as of 2017) only proceedings by the Commission for this reason. The Commission referred in particular to the reforms to the Constitutional Court . In July 2017, Frans Timmermans , Vice-President of the Commission, announced punitive measures against Poland and did not rule out proceedings under Article 7 TEU, whereby Poland could be deprived of voting rights as an EU member state in the event of a serious and persistent violation of fundamental values.

Earlier versions

With the Treaty of Maastricht on February 7, 1992, the Treaty on European Union was concluded. In this treaty, of all the basic values ​​of the EU today, only respect for fundamental and human rights was anchored as a normative provision. The principle of the rule of law, on the other hand, was transferred to the European Union by the European Court of Justice - derived from the constitutional tradition common to all member states - through case law . This principle, along with the principles of democracy and freedom, was then explicitly incorporated into the normative law of the Amsterdam Treaty of June 18, 1997 , when Article 6 (1) of this treaty agreed:

The Union is based on the principles of freedom, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and the rule of law; these principles are common to all Member States.

This wording remained unchanged in the Treaty of Nice and was changed to the current version by the Treaty of Lisbon.

literature

  • André Hau: Sanctions and preliminary measures to safeguard fundamental European values. Legal questions on Art. 7 EU (=  IUS EUROPAEUM . Volume 19 ). NOMOS, Baden-Baden 2002, ISBN 978-3-7890-8310-5 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Text of the report on the violation of European fundamental values ​​in Hungary
  2. ↑ Decision of the European Parliament to initiate Article 7 proceedings against the government of Hungary
  3. ^ Karl-Peter Sommermann : The common values ​​of the Union and the member states . In: Matthias Niedobitek (Ed.): European law. Foundations of the Union . De Gruyter Studium, 2014, ISBN 978-3-11-027168-3 , section: 3. Values ​​as “lock terms ” pp. 295–297, pp. 287 ff .
  4. ↑ Eckart D. Stratenschulte : The value system of the EU and its basis: A clear matter? Federal Agency for Civic Education, January 20, 2010, accessed on July 16, 2017 .
  5. ^ Charles Grant: What are European values? The Guardian, March 25, 2007, accessed July 15, 2017 .
  6. ↑ Resolution of the European Parliament of June 10, 2015 on the situation in Hungary (2015/2700 (RSP)) , accessed on July 21, 2017
  7. ^ Reform of the Constitutional Court: EU sets Poland a three-month deadline. In: Der Tagesspiegel. July 27, 2016. Retrieved July 19, 2017 .
  8. ↑ European Union: EU Commission examines the rule of law in Poland. In: time online. January 10, 2016. Retrieved July 19, 2017 .
  9. ↑ Markus Becker: Dispute over judicial reform: EU Commission threatens Warsaw with the withdrawal of voting rights. In: Spiegel online. July 19, 2017. Retrieved July 19, 2017 .
  10. ^ Judicial reform: EU threatens Poland with withdrawal of voting rights. In: time online. July 19, 2017. Retrieved July 19, 2017 .
  11. ^ Treaty on European Union, signed at Maastricht on 7 February 1992. 92 / C 191/01. In: Official Journal of the European Communities . C 191 of July 29, 1992, ISSN  0376-9461
  12. ↑ Markus Peifer: Better regulation as a model for European legislation. Logos, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-8325-3011-2 , pp. 33–34 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  13. ↑ a b Antonius Opilio : Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community. In a synoptic comparison of the status of these contracts before 1992, from 1992, 1997 and 2001. Edition Europa Verlag, ISBN 978-3-901924-06-4 , p. 9 ( limited preview in the Google book search).