The Enforcement of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union as a Challenge for the Multi-Level Protection System

Abstract:     
The Lisbon Treaty, signed in December 2007 and supposed to be ratified in 2008, makes significant progresses in the area of human rights protection. The new article 6 of the Treaty on the European Union is devoted to fundamental rights and sets up a plurality of sources: the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights and the general principles that contain the common constitutional traditions. Even if the new article 6 clearly states that the European Charter has the same value as the Treaty, these plural sources raise some questions. The actual added value of the Charter can be questioned. Since the Treaty allows for the possible membership of the EU to the European Convention of Human Rights, does the EU really need a 'new' catalog, especially if the Charter refers to the ECHR and the ECtHR judgments to define the interpretation given to the Charter's rights? By making these multiple references to the ECHR, the Charter also challenges any ambition of clear and well established hierarchy, and surprisingly moves away from the claim for simplification. Therefore, this proposal comprises a thorough analysis of the difficulties raised by the enforcement of the Charter in terms of legal pluralism and on the need to organize the intersystemic relations in a 'legal network'.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 17

Keywords: EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, Enforcement, Effects, EU accession to the ECHR, EU citizenship, Constitutional Pluralism, Fundamental rights protection network

working papers series