Verfassungsblog (Dec 2022)
The Slippery Slope of a Snooping Strasbourg
Abstract
Last week, the ECtHR ruled in Spasov, for the first time, that there was a ‚denial of justice‘ and thus a violation of Article 6(1) ECHR due to a manifest error of law by a national court regarding the interpretation and application of EU law. A Romanian court had convicted Mr Spasov, the owner and captain of a Bulgarian-flagged vessel, of illegal fishing inside Romania’s exclusive economic zone. Spasov is an important principled judgment that further intertwines the EU and ECHR legal systems.