DECLARATION

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