A values-based Union worthy of the name? Free speech and the trajectory of EU media law and policies

Counterterrorism, Dignity, and the Rule of Law

The EU identifies and presents itself as an organisation founded on ‘fundamental values’ and as a defender and guardian of fundamental rights. The development of this ‘fundamental rights myth’ (Journal of Common Market Studies 48(1):45–66, 2010) has taken place against the broader backdrop of a globalisation of human rights discourse (Journal of Common Market Studies 48(1):45–66, 2010; McGill Law Journal 49(4):951–968, 2004). Fundamental values have also increasingly become the narrative driving EU foreign policy, including enlargement and neighbourhood policies. As Article 3(5) clarifies, ‘In its relations with the wider world, the [European] Union shall uphold and promote its values and interests and contribute to the protection of its citizens. It shall contribute to […] the protection of human rights’. Article 49 sets forth respect for the so-called founding values—‘respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights’ (Art. 2 TEU)—as a precondition for EU membership.

Timor-Leste, a newly independent state, was declared a democratic state under the rule of law and respecting human dignity as a result of the struggle for the right to self-determination and human rights. In the process of building Timor-Leste as a state under the rule of law, Timor-Leste still faces many challenges, especially related to the lack of qualified human resources in all sectors, including justice and human rights. Basically, the rule of law means that the state is based on law. Law is a fundamental part of building an organized and organized state, while Timor-Leste chooses to follow the doctrine of civil law from continental Europe as a logical consequence inherited from Portuguese law, which states that law must be written, contained in a legal document, the constitution, codes, or in writing. But the state must also, beyond the supremacy of law, respect human rights issues. This means that Timor-Leste is a state governed by the rule of law, seeking to respect and value human rights. Respect for and appreciation of human rights is enshrined in the Constitution of Timor-Leste. The interpretation of fundamental rights in Timor-Leste must be in harmony with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The State is not based solely on law (as a state governed by law), but more than that, it is based on human rights, on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; on respect for the dignity of the human person. Regarding the issue of justice, the Timor-Leste justice system must respect and value human rights. That is, every act of the Timor-Leste justice system must be applied in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with the primary objective of respecting and valuing human rights.

Respect and protection of human rights is one of the main areas of activity of the European Union in accordance with the objectives and principles of this organization, enshrined in the founding treaties. Any European country that adheres to the principles of liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as the rule of law, may apply to the EU with an application for membership, as provided for in the Treaty on European Union. The criteria that candidate countries must meet for accession to the European Union (the Copenhagen criteria) were approved at the meeting of the European Council in Copenhagen in June 1993. According to them, membership in the EU from the point of view of political standards requires the candidate country to have stable institutions that guarantee democracy, the rule of law, respect for human rights and the protection of minorities. Countries wishing to become members of the EU must not only enshrine the principles of democracy and the rule of law in their constitutions, but also implement them in everyday life. The constitutions of the applicant countries must guarantee democratic freedoms, including political pluralism, freedom of speech and freedom of conscience. They must establish democratic institutions and independent judicial bodies, bodies of constitutional jurisdiction, which create conditions for the normal functioning of state institutions, the holding of free and fair elections, periodic changes of the ruling parliamentary majority, as well as recognition of the important role of the opposition in political life. There is no integrated mechanism for the protection of human rights in the European Union. The national system of human rights protection operating in the Member States is complemented by a system of protection at the European Union level. In addition, the protection of human rights and freedoms is carried out within the framework of the Council of Europe, of which all Member States of the European Union are members. The formation of a system of legal norms at the European Union level that ensure the protection of human rights and freedoms has occurred gradually, and this system has significant potential for its development. Over the past 60 years, the European Union has come a long way in establishing its own system of human rights protection: from a complete rejection of the idea that the protection of human rights can take precedence over the provisions of EU law, to the development of its own catalogue of human rights, which became the Charter of Fundamental Rights. In addition, the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty introduced legal grounds for the EU to join the European Convention on Human Rights. All this raises the question for Ukraine of the need to improve its own system of human rights protection, since, according to the criteria for accession to the EU, only a state with an appropriate level of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms can become a full member of the European Union.

The EU's human rights policies and actions have two main components: protecting the fundamental rights of EU citizens and promoting human rights around the world. One of the aspects that the UN focuses on is the relationship between democracy and human rights, as the organisation upholds the importance of equal political participation of citizens of its states and full respect for human rights, including the recognition, protection and promotion. As defined by the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), human rights are norms that recognise and protect the dignity of all people, meaning they apply to everyone, without distinction of race, gender, education, political opinion, sexual orientation or any other type of moral judgement. The realisation of human rights also obliges states to be responsible for protecting these norms and prohibits certain acts that violate them. Human rights can be said to be one of the greatest achievements of mankind. One of the most important human rights documents is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, signed in 1948 at the UN General Assembly. Consisting of 30 articles, the Declaration formalises all the theoretical developments made earlier on civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights. Another innovation of the Declaration was the inclusion of human rights in the universal character, becoming the rights of all peoples. Thus, for the UN, human rights "are universal legal guarantees that protect individuals and groups from acts and omissions by governments that violate human dignity"3. Human rights are fundamental and therefore inalienable human rights, i.e. those rights whose violation would lead to an attack on the very essence of humanity. For this reason, it is important that everyone is aware of and knows about human rights, their content and the forms of protection provided for them, as everyone should be able to enjoy their fundamental rights for the sole purpose of living in peace, without distinction. Human rights, democracy and the rule of law create an environment in which countries can promote development, protect people from discrimination and ensure equal access to justice for all.

The paper highlights the topic of European integration. Ukraine has decided on the vector of foreign policy, setting the goal of integration into the European political, economic and legal space with the aim of gaining membership in the European Union. Namely, accession to the EU is a strong incentive for development and improvement of many aspects of the functioning of our state. In 2022, during an extremely challenging period for Ukraine, a qualitatively new stage of European integration began – Ukraine received the EU candidate status, which made the prospects of joining the European community feasible, became a catalyst for further reforms, and an incentive for the authorities and citizens of the country. The EU candidate status has opened up a number of vectors for our country to carry out reforms in various areas. These are primarily structural changes, shift away from the consumer economy model, improvement of production efficiency, expansion of access to new technologies, new investments, etc. This is the country`s achievement of a new level of development comparable to EU member states. Six fundamental values of the European Union – supremacy of law, respect for human dignity, democracy, freedom, equality and respect for human rights – these are the most vital worldview principles, which are close and understandable to our society – to every Ukrainian. They exactly unite us with Europeans more than any laws or agreements. The EU enlargement process opens new strategic prospects for Ukraine and additional opportunities to deepen the European integration policy of our state. However, at the same time, at the current stage of Ukraine's relations with the European Union, there are many problems that must be eliminated, in order to become a member of the EU. In this paper, we considered Ukraine's path to European integration, highlighting the opinions of political and public figures regarding the importance of our state for European space. It was noted which criteria for EU membership exist, it was also analyzed which of them Ukraine has already fulfilled. Attention was focused on the reforms that should be carried out in order to obtain EU membership. It was clarified what are the obstacles to the European integration of Ukraine and it was indicated the ways to overcome them.

The article examines the formation, current state of the rule of law and democracy, their relationship and interdependence with the principle of respect for human rights. And also the importance of maintaining a balance of the interests of the state and society for international security. In accordance with Part 1 of Art. 8 of the Constitution of Ukraine, the principle of the rule of law is recognized and applied in Ukraine. The rule of law is embodied in the law-making and law-enforcing activities of the state. Regulatory acts of the state must ensure social justice, freedom, and equality. The rule of law is one of the basic principles of a democratic society and involves judicial control over interference with every person’s right to freedom. The rule of law is an integral part of any democratic society, it is the rule of law in society. The state is required to implement the rule of law in law-making and law-enforcement activities, in particular, in laws that must correspond to the ideas of social justice, freedom, equality, etc. But only declared human rights, democracy and the rule of law without real mechanisms for their protection, processes and procedures are only a declarative category. Therefore, actually functioning mechanisms for the maintenance of democracy and the protection of human rights, combined with the constitutional limitation of power, are the main prerequisites for democracy. Democracy guarantees a peaceful political dialogue both in the internal politics of the state and in international relations. Dialogue guarantees a more or less stable balancing between the interests of the state and civil society. Human rights, the rule of law and democracy are interconnected and mutually reinforcing and belong to the common and indivisible core values and principles of the United Nations. The rule of law is the main factor in the implementation of democracy. Strengthening the rule of law promotes the protection of human rights and limits the arbitrary exercise of power, which is a basic requirement of modern democracy. But of the three considered categories of «human rights», «democracy» and «rule of law», the main one is human rights. Others rely on human rights. The Preamble to the Charter of the United Nations states: «We, the peoples of the United Nations, are determined to save future generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold grief to humanity, and to reassert faith in fundamental human rights...»

This article presents an innovative approach to EU fundamental rights protection against the Member States. It draws on recent studies which have shown that the fundamental rights situation in a number of Member States is an increasing cause for concern, particularly with respect to media freedom. However, while the Union intensely scrutinizes the fundamental rights situations in candidate countries, there is scant action so far in case of serious problems in the Member States. Although the latter are comprehensively committed to "respect for human rights" according to Art 2 TEU and subject to the enforcement mechanism foreseen by Art 7 TEU this has proven to be of very limited practical impact. Therefore, the article suggests opening up "respect for human rights" for individual legal actions via Union citizenship. Its starting point is the recent jurisprudential development of the "substance" of Union citizenship in Ruiz Zambrano. This substance can and should basically be defined with reference to the essence of fundamental rights enshrined in Article 2 TEU. To put this into practice the article suggests a reverse Solange-doctrine, applied by the ECJ towards the Member States: outside the scope of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights the Member States remain autonomous in fundamental rights protection as long as it can be presumed that they ensure the essence of fundamental rights enshrined in Article 2 TEU. However, should this presumption be rebutted, the "substance" of Union citizenship - within the meaning of Ruiz Zambrano - comes into play. On this basis Union citizens can seek redress before national courts and the ECJ.

While constitutional constraints on state behavior are an important tool in extending, promoting, and protecting political and civil liberties, formal or “parchment” guarantees of government restraint and respect for human rights do not necessarily ensure that such restraint will be observed in practice. One persistent and widespread example of such lack of restraint is that of official impunity, or the failure of governments to ensure that their agents are bound by the same laws that apply to the rest of the population. Unpunished violations of human rights by state agents are widespread and are found across a range of regime types and development levels. For this paper I have created a measure of impunity based on data from U.S. State Department Human Rights Country Reports, supplemented with data from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, for 158 countries; this indicator provides an additional dimension to other measures of “rule of law” and official respect for human rights. Preliminary analysis of this data suggests that official impunity is worse in polities facing domestic crises and low levels of per capita income, and that the prevalence of impunity decreases dramatically with press freedom. In fact, press freedom may be a more effective tool in curbing official impunity than formal democracy, which results in episodic rather than constant pressure on abusive and poorly controlled military and police forces.

‘Moderate Islam’

The respect of human rights is essential to guarantee democracy and rule of law. But in a world where new technologies fundamentally change social relations and practices, it is not always clear what human rights and the rule of law actually mean, and how respect for human rights can be safeguarded. What happens when individuals are not primarily treated as persons of flesh and blood, but on the basis of digital representations? How does automated profiling affect individuals’ fundamental rights and fundamental societal values?This paper, one of the results of the European PROFILING project, first elaborates the concepts of profiles and digital personae and describes how profiling is used in different application areas: anti-money laundering and counterterrorism, fraud prevention, employment and education, and ehealth.Next, the impact of profiling on fundamental values, such as autonomy and the rule of law, and fundamental rights such as privacy, data protection and non-discrimination, is discussed. The paper then analyses how the European legal frameworks, including Convention 108, the Council of Europe’s 2010 Recommendation on profiling, the European Convention on Human Rights, the Data Protection Directive and the proposed General Data Protection Regulation, deal with the challenges of profiling to fundamental rights. Based on this analysis, three possible directions for enhancing legal protection against adverse effects of profiling are identified.

On citizens' right to information: Justification and analysis of the democratic right to be well informed

The Union cornerstones are respect for the rule of law and the fundamental rights on which it is founded - as stipulated in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union. EU law is supreme to national law and has direct effect, as evidence of the significance of mutual trust among its member states and their respective legal systems. The EU promotes a broad and substantive understanding of the rule of law whereby this concept is viewed as intertwined with and mutually reinforcing of the principles of democracy and respect for human rights, all of which underpin political stability and sustained economic and social development. The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights is binding on European institutions’ internal and external policies when implementing EU law: it includes a legal obligation to ensure that all EU actions promote and respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, including external policies. Mirroring its internal policies, the EU seeks to prevent violations of human rights and related rule of law throughout the world. This paper analyses the EU’s approach to supporting rule of law reforms and human rights protection in candidate countries base on analysis of particular agreements. It first situates European fundamental values to demonstrate how values are embedded in the association agreement and then focus on the assessment of the goals which aimed to be achieved. The paper also examines EU tools applicable in concrete cases. We argue that the EU has consistently putting the rule of law and human rights at the centre of its action and contribute to more effective protection of these values in candidate countries.

Purpose: to explore the fundamental principles that are based on respect for human dignity and human rights and should guide the decision-making and practice of medicine in the current crisis. Research methods: general philosophical, general scientific and special legal methods, in particular dialectical method, method of analysis, system-functional method, formal-logical method, hermeneutic method. Results: generalized main methods and means of protecting the rights of patients in a pandemic COVID-19. Discussion: the convention requires equal access to health care for all people with limited resources so that the most vulnerable are not discriminated against; the data collected to combat COVID-19 must be securely protected; restrictions on human rights must be regulated by law and aimed at protecting the collective interests and public health; the rights of those involved in the development of therapeutic measures in times of crisis need special protection. Medical care should be available to everyone. This means that states must work with all stakeholders (including pharmaceutical companies) to achieve this goal, provided that this process is based on respect for human rights. In accordance with international standards for the observance of the right to health, medicines, institutions and services, including access to treatment and future vaccines and drugs against coronavirus, should be available in sufficient quantities for all, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. population that should have access to them. In the difficult times of the crisis in the health care system we are facing now, international cooperation and solidarity are crucial. Governments with economic and technical capabilities should help those who have fewer resources to prepare for and overcome the outbreak. States should also provide other States and international organizations with up-to-date information on the level and consequences of the spread of coronavirus at the national level and information on possible coronavirus treatment that they have.

Good administration, a key element of good governance, is often used as a synonym for good governance, although this refers to a broader concept, which concerns a system of values and principles that regulate the exercise of power in a society. The need to ensure better administration and, implicitly, better governance makes us remember that the rule of law, democracy, respect for human rights, constitute common values on which the European Union is founded, that in a rule of law, power belongs to the people, its exercise belongs to the state, which has the role of holder of power, together with its citizens and local communities. The practical expression of executive power, the technical component of state power, is public administration, whose main objective is to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual. However, although states are the ones who must be the first to guarantee respect for human rights, local and regional communities are the ones that, according to the powers they have, must take numerous measures legislative, budgetary, administrative, educational, etc. that lead to the respect of these rights. Since recent years more and more people live in urban areas, globally reaching even half of the planet's inhabitants living in urban areas, in many cities around the world and obviously in European EU member states, there has been a move to reimagine urban governance and community life by incorporating the principles of international and regional human rights instruments, to better organize cities, so that human rights are respected, even launching a campaign that aims to establish an active community of cities and urban territories at a global level, which promotes public action based on human rights.