Mandate
The FRA is an EU body tasked with "collecting and analysing data on fundamental rights with reference to, in principle, all rights listed in the Charter"; however, it is intended to focus particularly on "the thematic areas within the scope of EU law". This is an expansion upon the scope of the former EUMC, which was restricted to issues of racism and xenophobia.
Like the EUMC, the FRA's primary methods of operation are investigation, reports, provision of expert assistance to EU bodies, member states, and EU candidate countries and potential candidate countries, and the education of the public. The FRA is not intended to intervene in individual cases but rather to investigate broad issues and trends.
The European Parliament (EP) has repeatedly attempted to use the FRA in order to put pressure on Member States' governments, especially with a view to promote LGBT rights. One noteworthy example was a Resolution adopted in September 2009, in which the EP condemned a "Law on the Protection of Minors", which was then under discussion in Lithuania, as "homophobic" and requested the FRA to issue a legal opinion on whether the draft law was compatible with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. The Lithuanian Parliament, however, responded by adopting a Resolution that condemned the EP's Resolution as an "illegal act" (pointing to the fact that the FRA explicitly has no mandate to examine the legislation adopted by Member States) and requesting the Lithuanian Government to take legal action against the EP before the European Court of Justice. Following this, the FRA from its side informed the EP that it was not going to issue the requested legal opinion.
More recently, the European Parliament has tasked the Agency to continue research started by MEPs into homophobia in Poland.
Read more about this topic: Fundamental Rights Agency