Celebrating the 25th anniversary of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights | Nice Civil Society Forum
Twenty-five years ago, on 7 December 2000, the European Charter of Fundamental Rights was proclaimed in Nice. The Union of European Federalists and its partners invite you to participate in the Nice Civil Society Forum where we are organising on 5 and 6 December 2025 to celebrate this 25th anniversary.
🕊️ The role of the European Federalists and European Movement
The European Council Summit of Nice (7–10 December 2000) took place at a crucial moment for the European Union: institutional reform, enlargement to Central and Eastern Europe, debates on the future political structure of the EU and the proclamation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
On 7 December 2000, a large pro-European demonstration was organised, mainly by the European Federalists and other pro-integration movements, under the slogan “Pour une Constitution fédérale européenne” (“For a European Federal Constitution”).
According to the report “The European People in Nice”, around 10,000 people participated — waving European flags, banners and city flags, including mayors and local administrators.
The event showed a strong local and civic mobilisation, not just symbolic presence, demonstrating that the federalist movement had real social capacity.
The main demand was clear: a European Federal Constitution.
On the same day, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union was officially proclaimed — a symbolic and political milestone in EU history.
In the 1990s, the European Movement played a key role in the genesis of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights. In particular, it created and led a Civil Society Forum tasked with drafting a proposal for a charter of rights, which directly inspired the European institutions. The European Movement's campaign also convinced Joschka Fischer, then German Foreign Minister, to bring this proposal before the European Council.
Thanks to this mobilisation, on 7 December 2000, the European Charter of Fundamental Rights was proclaimed in Nice, in the salons of the Sardinian Palace, the seat of the prefecture. The European Movements organised a large public demonstration to support this historic signing and call for the drafting of a Constitution for Europe, on the sidelines of the Summit of Heads of State and Government.
To commemorate this major milestone in European history, discuss and highlight the relevance and challenges of the Charter, the Union of European Federalists – France, together with the European Movement – France and Italy, the Jef France are organising a major Civil Society Forum on 5 and 6 December 2025 in Nice.
Friday 5 December 2025
📍 Prefectural Palace, Place Pierre Gautier – Nice
9:30–10:00 am: Welcome and coffee
10:00–10:30 am: Opening session
- Laurent Hottiaux, Prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes
- Pierre Loaëc, Head of the European Commission's Regional Representation in France
- Hervé Moritz, President of the European Movement – France
10:30 am – 11:30 am: Panel 1 – Origins and prospects of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights
- Pier-Virgilio Dastoli, President of the European Movement – Italy, former Representative of the European Commission in Italy, former Secretary General of the European Movement – International
- Étienne Deschamps, Historical Advisor to the European Parliament Archives (DG Presidency)
- Mercedes Bresso*, former Member of the European Parliament, former President of the Union of European Federalists
11:00 am – 12:30 pm: Panel 2 – The application of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights today
- Ignazio Patrone, Honorary Chief Prosecutor of the Italian Supreme Court, former President of MEDEL (European Magistrates for Democracy and Freedoms)
- Lucia Serena Rossi, former Member of the Court of Justice of the European Union
12.30pm – 2 pm: Lunch cocktail
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm: Panel 3 – How can we guarantee and protect Charter rights today?
- Domenec Ruiz Devesa, former MEP, President of the Union of European Federalists
- Marco Cilento*, representative of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC)
- Jan Robert Suesser, Vice-President of the European Civic Forum, member of the Bureau of the League of Human Rights
3.00 pm – 4.00 pm: Panel 4 – The Charter today: challenges and contradictions in the protection of fundamental rights in Europe
- Cecilia Rizcallah, Professor of European Law and Fundamental Rights at UC Leuven
- Vincent Doebelin, lecturer and researcher in public law at the University of Haute-Alsace
- Pierrick Bruyas, lecturer and researcher in European law at the University of Haute-Alsace
4:00 pm – 4:30 pm: Coffee break
4:30 pm – 5.30 pm: Special Session: Great Witness – The European Charter of Fundamental Rights: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
- Guy Verhofstadt, President of the European Movement International, former Belgian Prime Minister and former Member of the European Parliament
5.30 pm – 7.00 p.m.: Panel 5 – Is the Charter under threat? Ensuring the protection of rights in Europe
- Fabienne Keller, MEP, Quaestor, Member of the LIBE Committee
- Magali Altounian, Chair of the CIVEX Commission at the Committee of the Regions, Chair of the Europe Commission of the Southern Region, Deputy Mayor of Nice
- Emmanuel Decaux, President of the René Cassin Foundation, Professor Emeritus of Public Law at the University of Paris Panthéon-Assas
Saturday, 6 December 2025
📍 International Centre for European Training (CIFE), 81 rue de France – Nice
8:30 am – 9:00 am: Welcome
9:00 am – 11:30 am: Panel 6 – The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union to the European Convention on Human Rights: Ensuring the system for the protection of rights in Europe
- Sarah Tabani, lecturer and researcher at the University of Avignon, "The relationship between the Council of Europe and the European Union through the prism of the Charter yesterday and today"
- Michel Caillouët, diplomat, former Ambassador of the European Union to the Council of Europe (2004-2006)
- Canòlic Mingorance Cairat, Judge at the European Court of Human Rights
- Daphne Gogou, lawyer, former European Commission official specialising in migration issues, President of UEF Greece
- Inigo Mendez de Vigo, former Minister, former Member of the European Parliament, former Vice-President of the Charter Convention (video)
- Raymond van Ermen, rapporteur of the Permanent Forum of European Civil Society
- Alessandro Zan*, Member of the European Parliament, rapporteur on the application of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights
11:30 am – 11:45 am: Coffee break
10.45 am – 12:00 pm: Presentation of the 2025-2026 school competition of the European Movement – France on the protection of fundamental rights, by Elsa Bultez-Michel
12:00 p.m. – 13:00 p.m.: Closing session: Great witness – The European Charter of Fundamental Rights: yesterday, today, tomorrow
- Pervenche Bérès, former Member of the European Parliament, former member of the Convention on the Charter, administrator of the Jean Jaurès Foundation
→ Adoption and signing of the stakeholder declaration
The Union of European Federalists would like to thank the event's partners, including the European Commission, the Alpes-Maritimes Prefecture, Nice Côte d'Azur Metropolitan Area and the International Centre for European Training (CIFE), as well as the event's co-organisers, the European Movement – Italy and France and JEF France. It would like to commend the efforts and thank the volunteers of the European Movement Alpes-Maritimes who contributed to the success of this project.
REPORT
Pictures of the event. Credits Mouvement Europeen France.
After two intense days of debate, the parties participating in the Forum signed the following declaration:
ORIGINAL IN FRENCH HERE ON THE EUROPEAN MOVEMENT FRANCE WEBSITE
Nice Declaration on the Occasion of the 25th Anniversary of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights
Twenty-five years ago in Nice, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union was proclaimed. Since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009, its application has contributed to strengthening and guaranteeing the rights of every person in the European Union. Together with the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 1950, the Charter forms a unique system of rights protection in the world. It constitutes the constitutional foundation of the European Union, giving full meaning to European citizenship.
The International European Movement played a key role in the drafting, promotion, and signature of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union from the 1990s onwards, notably through the creation of the Permanent Forum of Civil Society. This Forum produced an ambitious initial text that inspired the initiative of the German government. In this way, the constitutional substance of the Draft Treaty establishing the European Union adopted by the European Parliament on 14 February 1984 (the “Spinelli Draft”) was respected.
At a time when the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Charter are being challenged, and in the face of both internal and external threats to this system of protection, we, the undersigned civil society representatives and supporters of liberty and European unity:
Call on the European institutions, the Member States, and civil society to support and fully implement the European Charter of Fundamental Rights and to make full use of its potential;
Demand that the European institutions take all necessary measures to ensure respect for the rule of law in all EU Member States — a prerequisite for the proper application of the Charter — and, in particular, commit to making all EU funds conditional upon respect for the rule of law, democratic principles, and fundamental rights, and to reform the procedure under Article 7 TEU by entrusting its implementation to the Court of Justice of the European Union, independent of national governments;
Demand that all EU policies fully respect the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the European Charter of Fundamental Rights;
Demand that the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, along with the principles and values laid down in the EU Treaties, remain essential conditions for accession to the European Union;
Call on the EU institutions to further promote the Union’s values and fundamental rights on the international stage — in international organisations, negotiations, and partnership agreements with third countries — in order to strengthen the protection of fundamental rights and respect for democratic principles worldwide;
Call on the European Union to increase its efforts to raise awareness of the Charter and the rights it enshrines among European citizens, to train judges and legal practitioners across Europe, to support civil society organisations working to promote the Charter and access to rights, and to advance European civic education;
Call on the European Union to accede to the European Convention on Human Rights and to the United Nations Covenant, in line with its previous commitments;
Call for the opening of a democratic and constituent process aiming at the elaboration and entry into force — among the peoples and States willing to do so — of a new constitutional treaty inspired by the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, the core of Europe’s shared values and principles, with the objective of successfully managing future enlargements.
Cherishing the freedom guaranteed by Europe’s system of rights protection, we commit ourselves to defending, applying, and promoting the European Charter of Fundamental Rights by every means at our disposal.
Nice, 7 December 2025
First signatories of the declaration:
- Guy Verhofstadt, President of the European Movement International, former Prime Minister of Belgium, former Member of the European Parliament
- Hervé Moritz, researcher and President of the European Movement – France
- Pier-Virgilio Dastoli, President of the European Movement – Italy
- Domenec Ruiz Devesa, President of the Union of European Federalists
- Fabienne Keller, Member of the European Parliament, Quaestor of the European Parliament
- Chloé Fabre, President of the French section of the Union of European Federalists (UEF France)
- Aurore Laloux, President of the Young Europeans – France
- Magali Altounian, Chair of the CIVEX Commission of the Committee of the Regions, Chair of the Europe Commission of the Région Sud, Deputy Mayor of Nice
- Lucia Serena Rossi, former Judge at the Court of Justice of the European Union
- Ignazio Patrone, former Advocate General at the Italian Court of Cassation, former President of MEDEL
- Daphne Gogou, lawyer, President of the Greek section of the Union of European Federalists (UEF Greece)
- Dominique Deshayes, President of AIACE International
- René Guth, President of AIACE France
- Karl Kellner, President of AIACE Austria
- Laurence Aubron, Director of Euradio
- Jean-Francis Billion, President of Presse fédéraliste
- Véronique Auger, President of Citoyennes pour l’Europe
- Michel Derdevet, President of Confrontations Europe and President of the Maison de l'Europe de Paris
- Michel Caillouet, former diplomat of the European Union
- Cecilia Rizcallah, Professor of European Law and Fundamental Rights at UC Louvain
- Pierrick Bruyas, Lecturer in European Law at the University of Haute-Alsace
- Francesca Tortorella, Lecturer and Researcher in Contemporary History at the Catholic University of Lille