Bulletin n. 1/2015
June 2015
CONTENTS
  • Section A) The theory and practise of the federal states and multi-level systems of government
  • Section B) Global governance and international organizations
  • Section C) Regional integration processes
  • Section D) Federalism as a political idea
    • Christoph Krenn
    Autonomy and Effectiveness as Common Concerns: A Path to ECHR Accession After Opinion 2/13
    in German Law Journal , vol. 16, issue 1 ,  2015 ,  147-168
    Opinion 2/13 is a sweeping blow. After four years of negotiations, it took the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU or the Court) only a few paragraphs to pick to pieces the draft accession agreement on the EU’s accession to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), finding a conflict with the EU Treaties on ten grounds. The Court’s message is clear: Accession, under the terms of the draft agreement, would risk undermining the very essence of the EU’s constitutional system. Critics of the Court are abundant. To many, the Court did not only frustrate the prospects of enhancing the protection of human rights in Europe—it did so on highly dubious grounds, building a façade of spurious, if not bogus arguments, considering minor and immaterial threats to the autonomy and effectiveness of EU law as adversely affecting the constitutional basis of the Union. Behind this seems to be the CJEU’s selfish concern for its own power and position in the European legal area—“judicial politics of the playground,” as Steve Peers put it. These critical analyses come hand in hand with a grim outlook regarding the future of the EU’s accession to the ECHR. It is unlikely, the argument goes, that the non-EU Member States of the Council of Europe will reopen discussions on the many substantial issues the Court raised.
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