New European human rights agency condemned
A senior member of the Council of Europe today called the European Union’s new human rights agency “a horrible waste of money,” and suggested the EU leave monitoring of rights issues to the Strasbourg-based watchdog.
The new agency – being set up in Vienna, Austria – will be tasked with watching for rights violations across the 27-nation bloc, gathering and analysing information on civil liberties, and investigating cases of domestic violence and discrimination.
In effect, the agency will take over much of the work of the Council of Europe, the continent’s leading human rights watchdog.
“This new agency is a horrible waste of money. If we want to win support from our citizens we must be careful about spending their money,” said Rene van der Linden, chairman of the council’s parliamentary assembly. “We need partnership, not duplication.”
The Council of Europe, comprising 46 member states, is separate from the EU. Its main success was the European Convention of Human Rights in 1950.
The Council of Europe’s annual budget is €270m. The new agency’s budget has not yet been set.
