Following a meeting on 13 July 2007 between civil society organisations and the newly appointed Management Board of the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), the Social Platform has sent a message to the Director General of the European Commission's DG Employment and Social Affairs, Mr Van der Pas.

You will find below the text of the message which underlines the Social Platform's concerns as regards the composition of the FRA's Management Board.

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Brussels, 18 July 2007

Dear Mr Van der Pas,

Re: DG EMPL has to be in the Management Board of the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA)

On 22 June we copied you on a letter which we sent to Commissioners Å pidla and Frattini on the FRA. In this letter we have listed our expectations for the multi-annual framework programme and on the link between the agency and civil society.

Today we want to draw you attention specifically to the representation of the Commission on the Management Board of the FRA and to the question of the Multi-Annual Framework

Last week, a large delegation of Social NGOs met in Vienna with the newly appointed Management Board of the Agency. To our surprise we were informed that the two Commission’s seats on the Management Board were allocated to DG JLS (see attachment composition of the board).

We do not understand this decision and we believe that DG EMPL should be given one of the two seats. Our approach is motivated by the following concerns:

• Fundamental rights are indivisible. However there are traditionally two large pillars i.e. civil and political rights and economic and social rights, which correspond to different fields of expertise. We believe that DG EMPL is better equipped that DG JLS to support the social dimension of fundamental rights. If one considers the importance of the protection of socio-economic rights in the process of European integration it is particularly crucial to have the appropriate expertise involved in the work of the FRA. The fact that there are two seats for the Commission also shows that this division of tasks within the Commission was foreseen by the Council;

• The FRA builds on the work of the EUMC. The work on racism and xenophobia remains a priority for the FRA. The EUMC was under the remit of DG EMPL and significant work has been done to evaluate and improve the work of the EUMC. DG EMPL needs to transfer directly this expertise to ensure that the board of the agency builds on the lessons learned. In addition DG EMPL has a key responsibility in relation to the equality agenda and for the implementation of article 13 and has to be in the driving seat in order to ensure a good coordination with the FRA.

Secondly, the members of the Social Platform were presented with a first draft of the multi-annual framework programme in Vienna. We were again surprised at the extent it was led by the JLS agenda. Here for your information are the nine priorities presented to us orally:

1. Racism, xenophobia and related intolerance
2. Discrimination based on gender and on Art. 13 related reasons
3. Compensation of victims, prevention of crimes and security of citizens
4. Protection of children
5. Immigration and integration of migrants
6. Asylum
7. Visa and border control
8. Human rights issues relating to information society
9. Access to efficient and independent justice

Even if we consider these issues relevant, many representatives of civil society and of the management board (national experts) reacted to underline the lack of reference to socio-economic rights and in particular to issues linked to social inclusion.

We therefore believe that a stronger synergy needs to be at work between the different parts of the Commission. Considering the growing importance of fundamental rights in the activities of the Commission (in particular with the inclusion of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights in the treaty and of the social transversal clauses on equality and SGI) it is essential that this topic is driven with vigor and coherency and in particular on the social side.

We hope very much that you understand our concerns about the important role DG EMPL has in the field of fundamental rights.

We anticipate your support in ensuring the close involvement of DG EMPL in relation to the FRA.

Best regards,

Patricia Prendiville (Chair of the fundamental rights and non-discrimination WG of the Social Platform)
Roshan Di Puppo (Director, Social Platform)