The treaty of the European Union tells us that European values are respect for human dignity and human rights, freedom, democracy, equality and the rule of law. In the case of human rights the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights spells out in great detail our political, civil, social and economic rights to which we are all entitled, that we can all demand. But the Charter is little known. We need to find ways to have the Charter better used in courtrooms, better cited in parliaments, better relied on by governments and by EU institutions. In that way, we will give real meaning to our European values that are actually universal values.
