Trends on Fundamental Rights Protection in the European Legal Space - 2023 Prospective

Abstract

Within the geographical Europe, on supranational and international level, we come across two distinct, yet interconnected human rights protection regimes; the Council of Europe (hereinafter: CoE) and most importantly, the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (hereinafter: ECHR, Convention), and the European Union (hereinafter: EU) that safeguards fundamental rights through the provisions of the EU law and in conjunction with the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (hereinafter: CJEU). While some member states co-exist within EU and CoE in parallel, others are being expelled from the CoE or exiting the EU on their own, questioning thus the membership status quo in times that appear to bring deterioration on the landscape of human rights. Starting off with essentially different mandates both organisations, i.e. the CoE and the EU have today more features that unite them, at least from the perspective of their human/fundamental rights work. As such, two fundamental rights catalogues, well-established procedural mechanisms and overarching principles stand out as signs of convergence within the two regimes. To analyse the interconnection between the two regimes is even more timely as the negotiation talks between the CoE and the EU resume, including suggestions to overcome issues previously contested by the CJEU of Justice of European Union in its infamous 2/13 Opinion on Accession of the European Union to the ECHR. The renewed efforts include potential solutions on co-respondent mechanism, joint responsibility, advisory opinion and other previously disputed issues, though the scepticism on the actual progress seems justified.