The European Union's accession to the European convention on human rights : 'a supplement or an interference?'

Abstract

The primary objective of this dissertation is to examine whether the European Union's imminent accession to the European Convention on Human Rights will ultimately produce the envisaged results of creating a more comprehensive system of human rights in Europe. The latter entails that the Convention acts as the proverbial 'Constitution of Europe' guaranteeing the most basic level of fundamental rights protection, or else a needless complication of a well-functioning system. In order to reach these fundamental yet quite wide-ranging aims, this dissertation will be divided into five chapters. The first chapter will provide an overall introduction to the very concept of EU's accession to the ECHR while laying the ground for the successive chapters. In the second chapter we will analyse the implications that accession will bring about in the relationship between the European Court on Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union including issues of locus standi, jurisdiction and autonomy whilst examining the position of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights. The third chapter expounds the relevant implications of accession specifically vis-a-vis the European Union and its Member States including new often ground-breaking mechanisms and procedures that will be introduced by the European Draft Accession Agreement, once accession will be formalised and ratified.