This is the EU charter of rights which the UK and Poland opted out of (I have resumed for brevity):You make it sound like the whole thing is 'optional'.
So what are the 'not-optional' aspects?
- Dignity - guarantees the right to life and prohibits torture, slavery, the death penalty, eugenic practices and human cloning.
- Freedoms - covers liberty, personal integrity, privacy, protection of personal data, marriage, thought, religion, expression, assembly, education, work, property and asylum.
- Equality - covers equality before the law, prohibition of all discrimination including on basis of disability, age and sexual orientation, cultural, religious and linguistic diversity, the rights of children and the elderly.
- Solidarity - covers social and workers' rights including the right to fair working conditions, protection against unjustified dismissal, and access to health care, social and housing assistance.
- Citizen's Rights - covers the rights of the EU citizens such as the right to vote in election to the European Parliament and to move freely within the EU. It also includes several administrative rights such as a right to good administration, to access documents and to petition the European Parliament.
- Justice - covers justice issues such as the right to an effective remedy, a fair trial, to the presumption of innocence, the principle of legality, non-retrospectivity and double jeopardy.
Why on earth the UK parliament doesn't want UK citizens to have the rights (and obligations) in the list above is for you to decide...