Avoiding an Odyssey - The EU's Accession to the ECHR

Abstract

Since 4 July 2013 the draft agreement for the EU’s accession to the ECHR has been under scrutiny by the ECJ. In this context, Daniel Thym opened up a debate, concerning whether the EU’s accession to the ECHR might be a “Trojan Horse” within the walls of EU law endangering its primacy. This article takes a different view: It argues that the ECJ can live up to its responsibility for the integrity of the EU legal order by asking for safeguards in EU law and by clarifying that the obligation to launch preliminary reference procedures remains unaffected.

Keywords: EU, ECHR, Accession, primacy of EU law, Court of Justice, ECtHR, human rights