Thursday

28th Sep 2023

Court crushes EU plan to join human rights convention

  • Judges at the EU court ruled against plans for the EU to accede to the convention of human rights (Photo: European Commission)

An opinion issued on Thursday (18 December) by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg says the EU’s accession to the convention is incompatible with EU law under the terms outlined by a draft agreement.

The verdict is likely to be seen as a gain for UK-based eurosceptic parties who oppose the EU judicial structures to begin with.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

But for the European Commission and the human rights watchdog, the Council of Europe, it is a set back.

Both had drafted the accession treaty, which was then adopted by the Strasbourg-based Council in 2013.

The convention is enforced across all 47 states in the Council, including the 28 EU member states.

The negative opinion further complicates the EU’s legal obligation to join the convention as required by the 2009 Lisbon Treaty.

But the judge’s opinion does not rule out the EU’s accession to the convention itself.

“It may well be that all those [problems] can be solved by a future draft agreement,” a contact at the ECJ told this website.

Another source said that while they had expected some criticism, the amount of negativity found in the opinion had caught them by surprise.

European Commission spokesperson Margaritis Schinas refrained from making any preliminary assessments.

Instead, he told reporters in Brussels that the “commission will now analyse in depth the Court of Justice of opinion”.

The Council of Europe made similar remarks on the need to study the opinion and overcome the legal hurdles identified by the Court.

Steve Peers, a professor of EU and human rights law at the University of Essex, says the Court’s grief is rooted in five big problems.

“In short, the Court is seeking to protect the basic elements of EU law by disregarding the fundamental values upon which the Union was founded,” he notes in his blog.

The judges are unhappy with the agreement, in part, because the convention would require each member state to check that the other member states had observed fundamental rights, even though EU law imposes an obligation of mutual trust between those member states.

"In those circumstances, accession is liable to upset the underlying balance of the EU and undermine the autonomy of EU law," note the judges.

Another anomaly cited by the Court is that the agreement failed to take into account the expanded role of the European Court of Human Rights, for instance, when assessing inter-state dispute settlements between member states.

Such disputes are for the moment only decided by the Court of Justice.

The judges also had an issue with a so-called co-respondent system in the agreement.

The system expands the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights to the EU. But the judges say this violates EU law because of certain specific extra roles required by the human rights court to carry out the tasks.

Not everyone is unhappy with the judgment.

The moderately eurosceptic ECR group has praised the Luxembourg-court’s opinion.

"I hope the irony is not lost that the ECJ is opposing the ECHR because its rulings might result in a loss of sovereignty,” said one ECR spokesperson in a statement.

EU court strikes down gay asylum tests

Gay people seeking asylum in Europe will no longer have to take tests based on stereotypes or be forced to provide images to prove their sexual orientation.

Opinion

Orbán's 'revenge law' is an Orwellian crackdown on education

On Tuesday, the Hungarian parliament passed a troubling piece of legislation known by its critics as the 'revenge law', which aims to punish and intimidate teachers who dare to defy Viktor Orbán's regime. This law is a brutally oppressive tool.

Latest News

  1. Germany tightens police checks on Czech and Polish border
  2. EU Ombudsman warns of 'new normal' of crisis decision-making
  3. How do you make embarrassing EU documents 'disappear'?
  4. Resurgent Fico hopes for Slovak comeback at Saturday's election
  5. EU and US urge Azerbijan to allow aid access to Armenians
  6. EU warns of Russian 'mass manipulation' as elections loom
  7. Blocking minority of EU states risks derailing asylum overhaul
  8. Will Poles vote for the end of democracy?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators, industry & healthcare experts at the 24th IMDRF session, September 25-26, Berlin. Register by 20 Sept to join in person or online.
  2. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  3. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  4. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators & industry experts at the 24th IMDRF session- Berlin September 25-26. Register early for discounted hotel rates
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  6. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  2. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  3. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics
  6. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us