Strasbourg, April 19, 2012 - Romanian MEP Renate Weber (PNL) has warned, during today's plenary debate on "EU accession to the European Convention on Human Rights", that "we are in a situation of violation of the Treaties and notably of article 6 that makes such an accession binding. The file is stuck in the Council due to the objections of the UK government and partially of the French government".

"I appeal to the UK government to change its position and let the EU apply the Lisbon Treaty obligations - and I trust that my colleagues here will make their outmost to ensure this happens" - further said Renate Weber, ALDE group political coordinator in the LIBE Committee.

As for the "so-called reform of the European Court of Human Rights", on which the UK Chairmanship of the Council of Europe is these days (April 18-20, 2012) holding a conference in Brighton, where several proposals are being discussed, Weber has informed the plenary on the appeal she has initiated and over 60 MEPs have cosigned it, appeal sent to the governments of the countries members of the Council of Europe.

"I cannot stress enough how worried the European Court of Human Rights, the NGOs and human rights defenders are about some of these proposals. If accepted, this counter-reform would severely diminish the rights of the victims of human rights violations" - warned Weber.

"Let me also express concerns on the fact that these two issues are being dealt with without any transparency. The Council examines "Seance documents" that are not accessible to the public and do not even appear on the registers. This is a violation of the Regulation on access to documents! The Brighton conference drafts are accessible only because of leaks".

"Neither the public nor the NGOs have been consulted. This is not the way we should deal with fundamental rights issues in Europe!" the MEP has also stated, adding that, in her opinion, "it is time for the Commission and the Council to make this clear to all Member States".