Attorney-General to endorse new EU constitution

The Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith QC, will tomorrow (25 June) endorse the Charter of Fundamental Rights which forms part of the new EU constitution.

In his speech, Lord Goldsmith sets out to correct misapprehensions about the Charter, most significantly saying that it sets out principles for human rights rather than displacing existing national laws.

The Charter restates many existing principles, which are already familiar from case law formed in the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights.

Lord Goldsmith was a member of the working party that worked on the original draft of the European Convention four years ago. This draft was then amended to make it suitable for inclusion into the new constitution approved last week by European leaders.