Walking on a Tightrope: The Draft Accession Agreement and the Autonomy of the EU Legal Order

Abstract

This contribution measures the first draft agreement on the accession of the EU to the ECHR by the strict requirements of autonomy of the EU legal order. It concludes that a review by the ECtHR would be compatible with the autonomy. However, the procedure before the ECtHR provided for in the draft agreement raises serious problems. Both the co-respondent mechanism and the prior involvement of the ECJ are well intended but may not pass the hurdles erected by the ECJ in its case law on the autonomy.

Keywords: EU accession ECHR, autonomy, co-respondent, prior involvement of the ECJ