Life Under The EU Charter

20-07-2007

Britain has all but lost its fight to stop the Charter of Fundamental Rights becoming legally binding in the new EU treaty set to replace the failed European Constitution.

A considerable majority of the EU's 27 member states want to give the charter legal force, according to senior German officials who are drawing up the treaty. But they hinted that Tony Blair could yet win opt-outs from parts of the document which interfere with British social or employment law.

The charter was drawn up as a political declaration in 2000 and legal experts believe that, if given legal force, some of its sweeping generalisations will allow the European Court of Justice to overrule British law in some areas. These include:

• Strike Ballots and Secondary Picketing: The right to strike is enshrined in the charter, with no reference to the system of workplace ballots established in Britain. There is no prohibition put on secondary strike action. The CBI believes there is a risk that British laws could end up being challenged to allow wildcat strikes or secondary picketing.
  
  
• Union Recognition: The charter gives "the right to negotiate and conclude collective agreements" but British laws permitting union recognition do not apply to businesses with less than 20 employees.
  
  
• Working Hours: Britain has an opt-out from the European Working Time Directive which limits the working week to 48 hours and sets rules for rest periods. The charter declares that "every worker has the right to limitation of maximum working hours", leaving Britain's opt-out open to challenge at the European Court of Justice.
  
  
• Saturday Jobs: The charter declares that "the employment of children is prohibited", defining the working age as the legal school-leaving age. This has led to fears that small family businesses such as corner shops could eventually find that European law prevents teenage children from helping out.

Britain has come under intense pressure to sign up to as much of the Charter of Fundamental Rights as possible. In the version included in the failed EU Constitution, Britain secured a paragraph on the "scope and interpretation of rights and principles" which sought to limit the impact of the document to EU law.

But George Arestis, a European Court judge, has said that the charter includes provisions that are fundamental trade union rights. He added: "It has the potential to renew labour law in the member states. The potential of the trade union and labour rights in the charter will be apparent when they are compared with member state laws which restrict or inhibit the rights of workers and their representatives... The incorporation of the charter into the primary constitutional law of the EU will have an impact on the member states, bound by the charter through the doctrine of supremacy of EU law."

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