EU Charter: You are not allowed to disagree with the EU Charter

Undertoad · 05-01-2005, 08:30 PM

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2005/0425/097.html

Quote:

It sounds incredible, or possibly not, but among the greatest threats to free speech in Europe is a document called the Charter of Fundamental Rights. The charter, proclaimed at an EU summit in 2000 and now incorporated into the provisional EU Constitution, comprises a blizzard of rights: rights for children, for women (they have a right to preference in areas wherein they are underrepresented), for asylum-seekers, for workers and employers (both are said to have a right to collective bargaining), for murderers (they have a right not to suffer capital punishment) and for the disabled. There is a right to marry, a right to privacy, a right to a good education and a lot more--including a right to freedom of expression. These rights are enumerated in 53 articles. But the final article is not a right. Headed "Prohibition of abuse of rights," it states: "Nothing in this Charter shall be interpreted as implying any right to engage in any activity … aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms recognized in this Charter or at their limitation."

This seems highly problematic. If someone were to mount a campaign favoring the death penalty, or opposing collective bargaining, or opposing preferences for women, or limiting the options of asylum-seekers, this would plainly constitute an effort to destroy rights recognized in the Charter--an activity characterized as an "abuse of rights" and therefore prohibited.

I don't think it's quite as bad as this guy says. It doesn't make dissent with the Charter illegal. It makes it not a "right".

But it's still no way to go about setting up a government.

xoxoxoBruce · 05-01-2005, 08:40 PM

Sounds to me like you can't cite your right under one provision to interfere with someone elses right under another provision.
That could be problematic but it's the same as our position that your rights end when they impinge on mine.

wolf · 05-01-2005, 09:01 PM

Kewpie doll for figuring out you have everything someone else thinks is good for you, except the right to dissent.

Be Less Bored · 05-13-2005, 08:42 AM

Isn't the EU charter much like the UN charter? "You have the rights we say you do until we decide otherwise".

Rights are NOT founded on consensus or public whim.

xoxoxoBruce · 05-15-2005, 12:59 PM

Quote:

Rights are NOT founded on consensus or public whim.

Absolutely.....consensus or public whim only decides if you can use them.

05-01-2005, 08:40 PM	#2
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	Sounds to me like you can't cite your right under one provision to interfere with someone elses right under another provision. That could be problematic but it's the same as our position that your rights end when they impinge on mine. __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

05-01-2005, 09:01 PM	#3
wolf lobber of scimitars Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Phila Burbs Posts: 20,774	Kewpie doll for figuring out you have everything someone else thinks is good for you, except the right to dissent. __________________ wolf eht htiw og "Conspiracies are the norm, not the exception." --G. Edward Griffin The Creature from Jekyll Island High Priestess of the Church of the Whale Penis

05-13-2005, 08:42 AM	#4
Be Less Bored Throwing turnips off the truck Join Date: May 2005 Location: not on a farm Posts: 36	Isn't the EU charter much like the UN charter? "You have the rights we say you do until we decide otherwise". Rights are NOT founded on consensus or public whim. __________________ bored? Be Less Bored -- or call US: +1 206-203-4119 D'oh .. and you were worried about google?

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