Changes from plenary report to adopted text

BG. whereas intersectional discrimination remains largely unaddressed in policy and practice; whereas the compounded impact of racism and gender, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics, socio-economic status, migration background and other grounds continues to be overlooked, leaving many victims without adequate protection, support or access to effective remedies;

BH. whereas recent surveys conducted by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) among Black people, Jews, Muslims and LGBTIQ+ people in the EU reveal that these groups continue to experience widespread instances of hatred and discrimination in the EU, reflecting systemic racial discrimination; whereas fears, misconceptions and ‘othering’ fuel discrimination and intolerance; whereas ECRI has raised concerns about xenophobic, homophobic and transphobic speech, including from politicians and public officials; whereas every person in the EU has the same right to become a full and active member of society and be treated equally;

BI. whereas recent legislative and institutional reforms in some Member States raise serious questions regarding compliance with the fundamental right to a fair trial and to an independent and impartial tribunal, as guaranteed by Article 47 of the Charter; whereas judicial independence is an indispensable component of the rule of law and a prerequisite for the effective protection of all other fundamental rights; whereas the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) has emphasised that judicial councils must remain independent from parliamentary and executive influence;

BJ. whereas the Hungarian law on the protection of local identity, which entered into force on 1 July 2025, grants municipal authorities the power to restrict residence based on arbitrary criteria such as education level, language proficiency and proof of employment; whereas such measures risk institutionalising racial segregation in housing and disproportionately affecting the Roma community, raising serious concerns about compliance with EU law and fundamental rights;

BK. whereas the Roma community continues to face systemic discrimination, segregation, social exclusion and police violence; whereas FRA reports reveal significant shortcomings in the implementation of the EU Roma strategic framework for equality, inclusion and participation, and highlight the low likelihood of achieving its 2030 targets; whereas forced evictions against Roma people have recently resulted in the displacement of hundreds of individuals, including children, elderly people and people with disabilities; whereas the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights has called for the implementation of ECtHR judgments in relation to the rights of Roma people ;

BL. whereas persons with disabilities living in the EU continue to face harassment and multiple and intersectional forms of discrimination in all areas of life, including the denial of reasonable accommodation, socio-economic disadvantages, social isolation, gender-based violence such as forced sterilisation, lack of access to community services, low-quality housing, institutionalisation, inadequate healthcare and denial of the opportunity to contribute to and engage actively in society;

BM. whereas the EU and the Member States that have not yet ratified the Optional Protocol to the UNCRPD should do so without delay;

BN. whereas ECRI has called on governments to actively promote the inclusion of migrants and to combat any discrimination against them; whereas racism and racial discrimination persist, including in the area of migration and asylum; whereas racialised migrants are disproportionately exposed to rights violations at the Union’s borders and within asylum and reception systems; whereas there is a lack of explicit anti-racism safeguards;

BO. whereas the situation of intersex persons in the EU remains largely unknown to the public in the EU; whereas in April 2024, several member states of the Council of Europe sponsored the first UN Human Rights Council Resolution on combating discrimination, violence and harmful practices against intersex people;

BP. whereas the Racial Equality Directive has been insufficiently applied by most Member States; whereas Council Framework Decision 2008/913/JHA on racism and xenophobia has not been fully or correctly transposed by some Member States; whereas stronger efforts are needed to combat structural racism, including the impact of violent right-wing extremist narratives in social debate, and to ensure that Member States comply with EU anti-discrimination legislation;

BQ. whereas access to justice for victims of racist hate crimes and other forms of hate crime and discrimination remains severely limited in several Member States due to inadequate support services, barriers to recognising racist and hate motivation, and weak enforcement of anti-discrimination legislation; whereas, as a consequence, racialised communities and other marginalised groups continue to face rights violations without access to effective remedies;

BR. whereas several Member States have consistently ignored judgments of the ECtHR;

BS. whereas Article 151 TFEU refers to fundamental social rights such as those set out in the European Social Charter; whereas socio-economic inequalities, including poverty and social exclusion, are increasing across the EU and this is a matter of great concern; whereas they remain deeply racialised, with persistent and structural disparities in access to education, healthcare, housing, employment and wealth accumulation, which continue to exclude racialised groups from equal participation in society and perpetuate intergenerational cycles of poverty and marginalisation; whereas housing inequality and the number of homeless people have both increased at an alarming rate in several Member States;

BT. whereas the Commission should look into what steps are needed for accession by the EU to the European Social Charter;

BU. whereas there have been proposals for the Council of Europe and its member states to adopt a protocol to the ECHR, including the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment;

BV. whereas in its KlimaSeniorinnen v. Switzerland judgment, the ECtHR recognised that the failure of states to take adequate measures against climate change may constitute a violation of the right to respect for private and family life under Article 8 of the ECHR; whereas the ruling underlines the urgent need to provide an enforceable right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment within the framework of the ECHR, thereby ensuring consistency, foreseeability and protection for the public;

BW. whereas some Member States published a letter regarding the interpretation of fundamental rights within the framework of the ECHR;

BX. whereas European human rights standards are the rights, principles, and obligations established in the EU Treaties, conventions and EU law, which reflect a shared understanding of minimum levels of protection; whereas international human rights standards are the minimum norms for the protection of human rights that have been formally endorsed by the international community through universal treaties, customary international law and universally accepted principles; whereas such standards bind or guide states in their treatment of individuals;

Fundamental rights at stake

1. Urges the Commission and the Member States to respect and promote EU values as enshrined in Article 2 TEU; further urges the Commission to comply with its obligations, such as to systematically conduct thorough fundamental rights impact assessments when preparing and presenting a legislative proposal, to launch infringement procedures where needed and to use fast-track procedures only when strictly necessary;

2. Urges the Commission to strengthen the annual reports on the application of the Charter by providing an EU-wide overview of its application across the EU, including an assessment of compliance with the Charter provisions, recommendations to Member States, and a clearer follow-up on identified fundamental rights challenges;

3. Expresses concern that divergent national interpretations lead to inadequate application of certain Charter provisions, as highlighted by the FRA Fundamental Rights Report 2025; calls on the Commission to take effective measures to ensure the full and uniform application of the Charter across the EU and on the Member States who have not yet done so to designate national focal points to ensure that national legislation, policies and EU-funded projects are fully Charter-compliant; believes that the EU institutions should be more vocal in denouncing breaches of fundamental rights and in calling on the Member States to take the necessary measures to address them; calls for improved awareness-raising campaigns at EU and national level, including in cooperation with FRA, aimed at enabling individuals to fully understand and exercise their rights;

4. Commends the role of FRA in monitoring the situation of fundamental rights in the EU, in supporting policy-makers by providing data, analysis and advice, and in making sure that fundamental rights are respected and promoted in existing and future EU legislation and policy; stresses the need to provide FRA with enhanced human and financial resources to ensure that it can fully and efficiently perform the duties entrusted to it;

5. Invites the Commission to continue enhancing the effectiveness and coherence of existing instruments, including monitoring and evaluation mechanisms; acknowledges the crucial role of the horizontal enabling conditions in the Common Provisions Regulation in ensuring the systematic application of the Charter and the alignment of Union programmes both with the Charter and with the EU values enshrined in Article 2 TEU; underlines the need to ensuring enhanced transparency and stakeholder participation;

Democracy under stress

6. Reiterates that democratic backsliding, attacks on judicial independence and threats to civic space are not isolated incidents but part of a systemic erosion of the rule of law in several Member States, as confirmed by the FRA Fundamental Rights Report 2025 and the Commission’s Rule of Law Report 2025; stresses that these trends undermine mutual trust between Member States and the proper functioning of the internal market;

7. Notes with concern the increasing political interference in the judiciary, the harassment of judges and prosecutors, and the use of disciplinary proceedings to silence independent judicial voices, as documented by FRA and the Council of Europe; recalls that partial or symbolic reforms in several Member States, such as Hungary, cannot replace genuine compliance with judicial independence, effective anti-corruption guarantees and respect for civil society; underlines that these elements are intrinsically linked to the protection of fundamental rights, including the right to an effective remedy, equality before the law and access to justice, as enshrined in Articles 20 and 47 of the Charter;

8. Reiterates its call on the Commission and the Council to immediately enter into negotiation with Parliament on an EU mechanism on democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights in the form of an interinstitutional agreement encompassing all Union values enshrined in Article 2 TEU, including a permanent policy cycle among the EU institutions integrating all existing tools, including the Article 7 TEU procedure, the Rule of Law Framework and Report, the Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation, the Common Provisions Regulation and the infringement procedures, into a single, enforceable framework;

9. Calls on the Commission to systematically use and rigorously enforce the Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation to ensure that EU funds do not contribute to violations of the values enshrined in Article 2 TEU;

10. Calls on the EU institutions to engage in dialogue with the Council of Europe and national governments to ensure that the protection of fundamental human rights remains effective; recalls that any limitation on the exercise of the rights and freedoms recognised by the Charter must be provided for by law and respect the essence of those rights and freedoms;

11. Urges the Member States, in particular those with a significant number of unimplemented ECtHR judgments, to accelerate their implementation and to establish transparent national monitoring mechanisms to ensure compliance; calls on the Commission and the Council to strengthen cooperation with the Council of Europe in promoting the effective execution of these judgments;

12. Expresses grave concern over the continued systemic breaches of the values enshrined in Article 2 TEU by Hungary, which has remained under the Article 7(1) TEU procedure since 2018 with no tangible progress; stresses that such a continued erosion of democratic standards and fundamental rights threatens the credibility of the Union as a community of values; deplores the deliberate weakening of judicial independence, media pluralism and academic freedom, the misuse of emergency powers, and the targeting of civil society and LGBTIQ+ persons; notes that the Commission’s 2025 Rule of Law Report and the FRA Fundamental Rights Report 2025 confirm a further deterioration in checks and balances, and widespread corruption and non-compliance with CJEU and ECtHR judgments; urges the Commission and the Member States to initiate the procedure under Article 7(2) TEU; calls on the Council to adopt country-specific recommendations with clear deadlines and measurable benchmarks;

13. Recalls that the use of discretionary power should be controlled by judicial or other independent reviews; calls on the Member States to establish mechanisms to prevent, correct and sanction abuse of discretionary powers, and to provide sound reasons for their decisions, in particular when they affect the rights of individuals;

14. Recalls that according to the UN standards for law enforcement, non-violent means are to be attempted first by law enforcement authorities; calls, in this regard, on the Member States to comply with the UN standards for law enforcement; recalls that law enforcement authorities are fully accountable for the fulfilment of their duties; underlines the importance of ensuring that investigations into any alleged cases of excessive use of force and discriminatory treatment by law enforcement authorities are transparent, independent and effective; calls on the Commission to introduce EU-wide guidelines for the selection, testing and trialling of the weapons used by law enforcement authorities, based on UN standards, recommendations and guiding principles; calls on the Member States to collect data on all uses of force, and on their causes and consequences;

15. Is deeply concerned by the increasing level of corruption observed in certain Member States and the emergence of corruption cases involving high-level officials and politicians; urges the Member States to combat corruption and to fully comply with GRECO’s recommendations, including those in its fifth evaluation round on persons with top executive functions and law enforcement agencies, and with recommendations issued by other relevant international and European bodies, including the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), as well as with those stemming from the UN and Council of Europe anti-corruption conventions;

16. Welcomes the Directive on Combating Corruption and calls for ensuring an effective, timely and ambitious implementation to strengthen the fight against corruption;

17. Calls on the Member States to ensure transparency in public spending and political financing, and to protect whistle-blowers who expose corruption in public institutions and the private sector;

18. Calls on the Commission to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the implementation of the Whistleblowers Directive and to take the necessary steps to ensure its full and correct transposition;

19. Expresses serious concerns regarding the deterioration in media freedom and the safety of journalists and media actors in several Member States, in particular those ranked lowest in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index, and the increasing pressure and attacks on, and political interference in, editorial independence and journalistic integrity;

20. Recalls that media freedom and pluralism, including high-quality, sustainably and transparently financed and independent news media, both traditional and digital, independent and investigative journalists, fact-checkers and researchers, and strong independent public service media are a cornerstone of a democratic society, a safeguard against the abuse of power and an antidote to disinformation;

21. Condemns the oppressive strategies employed by some Member States’ governments, such as the use of SLAPPs and smear campaigns, the growing influence of government-aligned oligarchs, the increasing concentration of media ownership that can have a significant impact on media pluralism and editorial independence across the EU, and state control over public media, civil society and academic institutions, all of which are contributing to the growing deterioration of media and academic freedom;

22. Deplores the growing practice by high-level officials in some Member States of limiting communication with key media outlets; emphasises that such actions curtail media freedom and transparency and can contribute to the spread of disinformation in the public space; underlines that public officials have a special responsibility in their communication with the public; stresses that the spreading of disinformation or public attacks on journalists by public officials is an increasing problem that fosters a permissive environment for propaganda, polarisation, hate speech and even hate crimes; urges all public figures to recognise and uphold their responsibility in public communication, ensuring that their discourse remains respectful, factual and professional;

23. Deplores the systemic failures in investigating and prosecuting crimes against journalists in several Member States; underscores the urgent need for stronger safeguards and robust legal frameworks to protect journalists; underlines that a failure to investigate and prosecute crimes exposed by journalists places them at a heightened risk of threats and violence; urges national authorities to end impunity through thorough and transparent investigations and prosecutions; pays tribute to Ján Kuciak, Daphne Caruana Galizia and Giorgos Karaivaz, and acknowledges their essential work as investigative journalists; calls on the competent authorities to ensure that justice is finally served;

24. Strongly condemns all forms of violence, threats, intimidation and surveillance against journalists, as well as the harassment and criminalisation of journalists for their work; calls for decriminalising defamation; highlights the fact that women journalists are particularly targeted and that this is a matter of concern; stresses that such a hostile environment for journalistic work might lead to self-censorship or deter individuals from choosing journalistic careers;

25. Calls on the Commission, the Member States and candidate and potential candidate countries to ensure the immediate and effective safety and protection of journalists and media professionals, including those fighting corruption at the highest levels of government;

26. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to promote free, independent and pluralistic media; stresses the need to ensure robust legal protections for public service media, guaranteeing their editorial independence and stable funding and shielding them from political influence and interference, in order to enable them to serve the public interest effectively and impartially; calls on the Commission to closely monitor such developments across the EU and to address the ongoing challenges;

28. Urges the Commission to ensure the full and correct implementation of the European Media Freedom Act; further urges the Commission and the Member States to guarantee the swift and proper implementation of the Anti-SLAPP Directive and to take effective measures to put an end to all SLAPP cases across the EU;

29. Calls on the Member States to follow the recommendation from the Council of Europe Safety of Journalists Platform to strengthen the protections for journalists in exile, including safeguards against the misuse of Interpol red notices;

30. Recalls that 16 EU Member States have recently committed to strengthening support for the integrity of information and independent media; acknowledges that several Member States have adopted dedicated action plans and taken steps to set up dedicated support structures promoting the safety of journalists;

Intersection of fundamental rights, democracy and technology

31. Highlights the growing trend of election manipulation in the EU by both domestic and foreign actors; calls on the Commission to carry out regular specific analyses of the tools available to, and used by, Member States to combat disinformation and foreign interference linked to electoral processes, recognising that such threats undermine fundamental rights, including the right to receive and impart information, democratic participation, and free and fair elections;

32. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that all measures taken to protect the EU against foreign interference and information manipulation include strong and resolute safeguards for fundamental rights, including freedom of expression; takes note of the Commission’s newly proposed ‘Democracy Shield’ mechanism and expresses its intention to engage constructively in its further development;

33. Calls on the Commission to assess whether EU restrictive measures imposed on several academics, scientists and analysts comply with the proportionality and necessity requirements under EU law and with Article 11 of the Charter, and whether they are designed to minimise their impact on economic, social, and cultural rights; recalls that the right to be heard must be guaranteed;

34. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to guarantee the effective implementation and enforcement of the DSA, the Artificial Intelligence Act and the Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising Regulation, including by ensuring adequate human and technical resources to safeguard the integrity of future elections in the EU;

35. Recognises the important role of digital technologies in fostering access to information and democratic participation; stresses that the business model of social media platforms based on microtargeting can stimulate addictive behaviour and lead to the amplification of divisive content, with serious repercussions for fundamental rights, such as the rights of the child, the right to the protection of personal data, equality and non-discrimination; underlines that social media platforms are often used as a vehicle for foreign interference and hybrid attacks due to their amplifying effects on social cohesion and democratic processes; underlines the need to address these challenges as part of the EU’s broader resilience ecosystem;

36. Calls on the Commission to reinforce the risk assessment and mitigation obligations for very large online platforms and very large online search engines, and to ensure effective follow-up; urges the Commission to remain firm in the face of attempts to undermine the DSA and to pursue ongoing investigations into large online platforms;

37. Highlights the challenges posed by generative AI chatbots, including the potential for these systems to cause cognitive harm through their interactions; considers that new technologies, including AI systems, must be guided by the principles of transparency, explainability, fairness and accountability and by appropriate safeguards in algorithmic systems, such as carrying out independent impact assessments to prevent them from exacerbating discrimination and existing inequalities; shares the opinion of the UN Secretary-General that algorithms should not exclusively determine the information people access, and that technology companies should ensure that their algorithms and content recommendation systems are designed and used in ways that do not undermine fundamental rights and democratic values;

38. Recalls that, according to Article 27 of the DSA, providers of online platforms must set out in their terms and conditions the main parameters used in their recommendation systems, any options available for users to modify or influence those parameters and an explanation of why certain content is suggested to the user; urges online intermediaries to end practices that deliberately exploit polarisation for profit;