MEP’s ignore Council decision as they water down Czech protocol

After more than a year of difficult negotiations, the Parliament finally recommended that EU member states do not deal with the extension of the so-called Protocol 30 to the Czech republic.

After more than a year of difficult negotiations, the Parliament finally recommended that EU member states do not deal with the extension of the so-called Protocol 30 to the Czech republic.

The Protocol seeks to clarify the application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights that currently applies to Poland and to the United Kingdom. The EP´s stance is not legally binding.

ECR MEPs supported the Czech application to which the heads of states and governments committed at their autumn 2009 summit in Brussels. “The European Parliament breaks into an agreement of EU Member States and challenges the guarantees given to the Czech president.This is a disgrace which makes the European Parliament look like an untrustworthy body,” said the head of Czech delegation Jan Zahradil.

As another Czech MEP Andrea Češková emphasises, the Protocol is not an opt-out from the EU Fundamental Rights Charter. “It is needless that the EP pays so much attention to the protection of social and human rights in the Czech Republic. The citizens of my country are under the protection of our own precisely formulated Charter, unlike the EU one which seeks to open a loophole for a future interference in national law. I expect the Council to treat the Czech Protocol in a much more reasonable and less ideological way,” Andrea Češková said.