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15
April
2016

FRA Opinion on the development of an integrated tool of objective fundamental rights indicators able to measure compliance with the shared values listed in Article 2 TEU based on existing sources of information

This opinion underlines the importance of drawing on existing data and information in any assessment of the values in Article 2 TEU, and outlines how this could be done.

This FRA opinion examines whether:

  1. human rights can be used as an overarching concept for the values listed in Article 2 of the TEU;
  2. indicators can effectively be used to measure compliance with the shared EU values;
  3. existing data and information from international monitoring mechanisms would provide credible sources for populating indicators and additionally needed context;
  4. existing data and information from EU and national level bodies would provide credible sources for populating indicators and additionally needed context;
  5. additional practical tools could be developed to operationalise existing data and indicators and support various EU processes concerned with fundamental rights and EU values more broadly.

The overall approach of this opinion is both conservative and innovative, as it proposes using already existing mechanisms and information in a more efficient and synergetic manner.