The Accession of the European Union to the ECHR

Abstract

The obligation of the EU to accede to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms has become one of the most significant changes brought about by the Lisbon Treaty. Despite the fact that the accession negotiations between the EU and the Council of Europe are still going on, there is little doubt that they will be successful in the near future. The present article is dedicated to the analysis of the legal and political effects of the EU accession to the ECHR. In the first part of the article the author addresses the difficulties that the EU had to overcome in order to launch the negotiation process. The goals and objectives of the accession together with the probability of their attainment are examined in the second part. Finally, in the third part the author analyses the implications of some ECHR judgments for the functioning of the EU institutions and their impact upon the development of the EU law. The author is convinced that the ECHR judgment in the Menarini case will force the ECJ to substantially modify its approach to EU Competition law cases.