Should the European Union Ratify the European Convention for Human Rights? Some Remarks on the Relations between the European Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Justice

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the relationship between the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the European Union, especially the European Court of Justice (ECJ). It assesses whether the EU should accede to the ECHR - and subsequently whether the parties to the ECHR and accession agreement should ratify it.

It sketches the hesitations of the ECJ from its initial sub-ECHR standard review of fundamental rights complaints to its interventions in the accession negotiation debates, jealously protective of its 'prerogatives' within the EU institutional architecture. The latter have led to over-complicated special provisions for the EU, especially the so-called 'prior involvement procedure' and also the 'co-respondent procedure'. These are clear evidence that the EU institutions, the ECJ included, have privileged their institutional prerogatives over the value accession would have for the protection of the fundamental rights of EU citizens. It is explained why the accession is nevertheless a good idea.

Keywords: European Union, Accession to ECHR, European Court of Human Rights, European Court of Justice, Court of Justice European Union, fundamental rights, human rights, constitutional law, European Union law