Sierra Leone News: Knowing the European Union (EU) :Brief Background of the EU

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The European Union (EU) initially started with six Western European countries as a loose economic union. The member states have increased to twenty-eight including states from eastern and northern Europe. The European unification now focuses on both economic and political issues. The process of establishing the EU started after World War II in the late 1940s in an effort to unite the countries of Europe and end the period of wars between neighboring countries. These nations began to officially unite in 1949 with the Council of Europe. In 1950 the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community expanded the cooperation. The six nations involved in this initial treaty were Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. Today these countries are referred to as the “Founding Members.” The Union has different branches which includes; European Parliament which has the mandate to share the legislative and budgetary authority of the Union with the council of the European Union. The European Council, the Council of the European Union, the European Commission, the European Court of Justice, the European Central Bank and the Courts of Auditors. The European Commission Ms. Salla Saastamoinen who is Head of Unit, Fundamental Rights of the Child in the Directorate General for Justice of the European Commission told Awoko in an exclusive interview in Belgium that the European Commission is “a government” of the Union with twenty-eight member states forming its membership. She explained that the Commission has the power to propose new legislations. She said it is a policy that only the Commission can propose for the EU new measures that can lead to policies for the Union. She however noted that Commissioners “are not Legislators” but that the Commission makes provision for a Council of Ministers and a European Union Parliament; two organs that take legislative decisions on behalf of the Union. The Commissioners of the Commission sit for five years and each Commissioner is appointed by a member state to be approved by the EU Parliament since they have the political authority accorded to them by peoples of the member states. The Commission consists of about 40 services each called a Directorate General that are working as Ministries in state government administrations. These Directorate Generals are supported in their service delivery by the Secretary General and the Legal Service Unit with the President of the Commission as the overall overseer. Directorate General for Justice In the area of justice, one of the issues the Commission is dealing with is the policy on fundamental rights which has two aspects; one dealing with the fundamental rights of people in the 28 member states. Ms. Saastamoinen also explained that the EU has a human rights policy towards third countries, which are countries that are not members of the EU and the international organization. The Third Country Policy, she maintains, is led by the European External Action Service (EEAS) whose main focus is watching with keen interest what the happenings in those countries are. The EU Head of Unit explained that the Founding Treaty and the Treaty of Functioning are what the EU Commission rely on for its operations. She said it is these two treaties that sanction the objectives of the Commission’s work based on the values of democracy, respect for human rights; respect for minorities and the rule of law. She further explained that fundamental rights established by the EU “are legally binding on all EU member institutions” including the Commission, Council and the EU Parliament. “Wherever we take action or give legislative instructions, they are reliant on the Fundamental Charter on Human Rights and has been binding on our Member States since 2009,” Saastamoinen stated. “Our Charter on Fundamental Human Rights is very modern; it is a rights for individuals and it’s also includes social rights and this is what is called the Fourth Generation of human rights so they are also included. We are there to ensure that all the Union legislation which is adopted, respect the Fundamental Human Rights. We are doing a pre-assessment of the legislation before the commission proposes,” she further stated. Legislation on the Right of the Child “Right now, the Commission is considering new legislations on the rights of the suspect; criminal procedures right and the right of children are now taking into wider perspectives to include not only Union Laws, but several other laws within the member states,” she said. Ms Salla Saastamoinen went on to disclose that the Commission is presently proposing a new legislation which concerns vulnerable suspects, and this she maintains, includes children because according to her, if a child is accused or detained in a course of a criminal procedure, that child becomes vulnerable more than the adults. “This is why we are working together with our Criminal Procedure Unit in other to see that the rights of the child in this kind of situation are taken into account so that the child is heard and they have legal support and to also take into account the specification situation of the vulnerable,” Salla said. In the area of public health, the Head of Unit said the EU is promoting and supporting programmes that ensures that every child drinks milk in school for example. It is such programmes that promote the health of the child that the Commission considers in its public health policy, she said, disclosing that the EU has a citizenship population of over 500 million. “We also have specific measures to protect the child from serious mishandling from criminal law measures, against sexual exploitation and human trafficking to which children are most vulnerable,” she stated. Salla Saastamoinen revealed that every year, an estimated 250, 000 children of Union go missing. She said they’ve not been able to establish as at yet whether these missing children are due to self decisions to run away, or by abduction. “We have established a network of hotlines for these missing children with similar numbers in the states across the Union,” she explained, adding that announcing a missing child is part of the Commission’s legislations that has been adopted as a policy by all member states. By Betty Milton Thursday October 04, 2013

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