Charter of Fundamental Rights in the European Union
When you get acquainted with basic human rights, you will come across several basic documents. In Europe, the two most important organizations active in the protection of human rights are the Council of Europe and the European Union (EU), of which Bulgaria has been a member since 2007.
The rights of each individual within the EU are established in the course of different cultures and historical periods, in different ways and reasons and in different forms. That is why the EU is taking the initiative to make them clearer and more universal, and to bring them together in one document, which is updated in the light of changes in society, social progress and scientific and technological progress: this document is the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
The Charter addresses certain political, social and economic rights of EU citizens. It was drafted by the European Convention and solemnly presented on December 7, 2000, by the European Parliament, the Council of Ministers and the European Commission. However, its legal status remains unclear. The Charter didn’t have full legal effect until the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon on December 1, 2009.
Article 21 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights explicitly prohibits discrimination on any grounds and is binding on member states when applying EU law. The provisions of national law must comply with the provisions of the Charter, thus creating, on the basis of common European values, grounds for prosecuting perpetrators of hate crimes at national level.