Notoriously, David Cameron is ready to do everything in order to stay in Downing Street after next year’s general election. With his latest proposition, however, he sets new standards in terms of unreason and is directly threating Europe as value-based community at its very core.
Mr Cameron and his party intend to sideline the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) by enabling the House of Commons to veto its verdicts. In this way the United Kingdom is de facto riding itself from the judical surpremacy of the Strasbourg court, since such a mechanism is barely compatible with the European Convention of Human Rights.
Generally speaking, it’s backlash of the court’s verdict onto British legislation that inducing the Tories to such an unprecented move. More immediately, however, the British government seeks to be able to expel convicted foreigners from its country.
Mr Cameron’s plan is widely criticised – even within his own party. Last week, two major opponents in his ranks, the liberal-minded Attorney General Dominic Grieve and fromer Justice Secretary Ken Clarke, lost their jobs in the Cabinet due to a comprehensive reshuffle by the Prime Minister. Although Downing Street is neglecting any link between their replacements and its ECHR plans, it can hardly be sold as an unhappy coincidence that his strongest and most vocal opponents, of all people, suddenly find themselves out of their jobs. According to reports, the party’s convention in October should clear the tracks for the endeavor.
It is the latest display of unreason that Mr Cameron hopes would help secure his re-election. And it, again, comes at a very high price.
The European Court of Human Rights has been established in the early 1950s as a supranational court, that monitors the compliance of the European Convention of Human Rights and imposes sanctions in case of violations. It was founded on the idea that the reading of human rights should not be subjected to the political arbitrariness in each European country, but should follow common standards and be subjected to the jurisdiction of an independent supranational body.
And that is exactly what the court has done ever since. In this month, the ECHR has passed its judgement on the controversial imprisonment of reporters in Turkey, on keeping defendants in cages during court proceedings in Russia and on the marriage ban for transsexuals in Finland.
47 European states have ratified the respective convention and thus subjected themselves to the jurisdiction of the ECHR. If the United Kingdom were to leave, as the Prime Minister obviously intends, it would join an exquisit club with Belarus, Europe’s last dictatorship. Furthermore, observers on both sides of the Channel consider the recognition of the ECHR a requirement for EU membership. Therefore, Britain’s sidelining could lead to its exit from the European Union which notoriously is not a frightening scenario among the Conservatives.
If Europe today is legitimatised to present itself as a champion of human rights, it is solely due to the European Convention of Human Rights and the Strasbourg court that guarantees for its compliance.
The European Union, on the other hand, is almost powerless with regard to the adherence of human rights. Yes, there is the Charter for Fundamental Rights that proclaims the values and freedoms of the Union and its citizens. But neither is the Charter legally binding for national legislation nor has each member state sign up to it. Poland and the UK have opted out and for countries like Hungary or Romania, it does not make for a proper instrument to curb undemocratic developments.
For years, European politicians and jurists have discussed legislation to make the Charter a legally binding instrument. Until now, they have not been able to come up with a tangible and feasible way to do so. Jean-Claude Juncker, President-elect of the European Commission, announced in his speech before the European Parliament that he intends to appoint a Commissioner of Fundamental Rights in his Commission. How such a Commissioner could do anything to improve the situation, has yet to be seen.
Today, the ECHR remains the sole guarantor for human rights in Europe. If the European Union by itself is not able to contribute to that task, it should at least support the ECHR at the very utmost. Consequently, there must be an unambiguous response to David Cameron’s intentions – if not for the sake of Britian’s future in Europe, then at least in order to avoid such intentions from catching on in other member states. Otherwise, there would be serious reason for concern for human rights in Europe to get subjected to political arbitrariness of single countries and for the idea of Europe to be a community based on humanitarian values to remain nothing but a rhetoricial figure.
This peace first appeared on TheEuropean.de on July 19th (in German). Follow me on Twitter @brnshnwd