Two Courts, Two Visions - Implications of the Right to a Fair Trial for EU Accession to the ECHR

Abstract

The diverging standards of protection concerning the right to a fair trial, as interpreted by the CJEU and the ECtHR, remain a critical obstacle to the EU’s renewed attempt at accession to the ECHR. In this field, the two Courts seem to be drifting further apart rather than converging, leading to unresolved conflicts between the standard of fundamental rights protection and mutual trust obligations in the EU. Except in the unlikely event of a course-correction by the CJEU, this means that we are no closer to accession today than we were ten years ago, when the now-infamous Opinion 2/13 was handed down.

Keywords

• Article 47 EU Charter
• CJEU
• Charta der Grundrechte | Europäische Union
• ECHR
• ECJ
• ECtHR