Accession of the European Union to the European Convention on Human Rights

What is it about?

This article examines the outcome of the resumed negotiations on the accession of the European Union (EU) to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) from the perspective of two members of the Secretariat of the Council of Europe._x000D_ Section I presents the history and background of the negotiations, including the first round from 2010-2013 and Opinion 2/13 of the Court of Justice of the EU, which found the original draft accession agreement to be incompatible with the EU treaties. It describes the Council of Europe member States’ continuing political support for the process of accession thereafter. Section II reviews core elements of the ECHR system, as a basis for understanding the significance of the changes that would be made following accession. Section III looks at the expected impact of the draft accession agreement on the functioning of the main organs of the ECHR system. Section IV discusses the significance of accession for the Council of Europe as a whole, bearing in mind the importance of the ECHR as a “constitutional instrument of European public order” and the interests of rights-holders, as well as the expulsion of the Russia in 2022._x000D_ The authors conclude that, despite the innovative and sometimes complex nature of the modalities for accommodating specificities of the EU legal order within the system of the ECHR, the revised accession agreement does not contravene fundamental principles necessary to preserving the effectiveness and credibility of the system.

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