WELCOMING MESSAGE THE CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE ON CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS, RIGHTS, FREEDOMS AND GUARANTEES

It is with great pleasure that I welcome everyone who visits us, whether in person or via the internet, during the Portuguese Presidency of the European Union. The Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees is responsible for all constitutional affairs, rights, freedoms and guarantees matters, and carries out its legislative and constitutional assignments by overseeing the activities of the Government and Administration, especially in the fields of Justice, Home Affairs, the Media, Equal Opportunities, Immigration and Ethnic Minorities, Freedom, Security and Justice within the scope of European Integration, State Reform and Administrative Modernization.

On 26 and 27 November 2007, the Committee will arrange, together with the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) of the European Parliament, an interparliamentary joint meeting for the Committees of the Justice and Internal Affairs Committees of the member-states of the European Union and the candidate states and the European Parliament, on the area of freedom, security and justice, at the European Parliament . We hope that this conference will be an important platform for information and a place to exchange experiences about freedom, security and justice in the European Union , where citizens’ fundamental freedoms continue to be the light that guides the definition of security policies.

The Committee Chairman

Osvaldo de Castro