Unnecessary and Unaccountable: The Fundamental Rights Agency is an £20 million Euro-Quango too far
Thursday, 12 October 2006
Today in the European Parliament, Timothy Kirkhope MEP, leader of the Conservatives in the European Parliament, slammed the Fundamental Rights Agency as "unnecessary and unaccountable".
The £20 million per year Agency will oversee the Charter of Fundamental Rights which the former Labour Europe Minister, Keith Vaz, said "had no more legal standing than the Beano."
Mr Kirkhope said:
"It is obvious this Agency is unnecessary: without the Constitution being in force, the Agency is utterly superfluous.
"Conservatives are suspicious about the proliferation of agencies, which are subject to minimal levels of scrutiny. Agencies are expensive, unaccountable and in this case, do not address a serious need.
"We are also concerned that such an agency will be given a credibility it does not merit. Past experience of its forerunner, the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, has shown that it has not been successful in appearing to be free of partisan political interference, such as in the case of the suppressed anti-semitism report on 2003. Giving it a grander title without changing its mindset or modus operandi risks granting it a spurious credibility."
ENDS
