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After the Dust Has Settled: How to Construct the New Accession Agreement After Opinion 2/13 of the CJEU

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

Abstract

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Since December 18, 2014, when the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued its notorious Opinion 2/13, the conclusions of the Court have been a subject of numerous analyzes and debates—often sharp in their criticism. Now that the content of the Opinion seems fairly elucidated, the scholarly attention should turn towards searching for practical solutions to the CJEU's demands. This Article aims to provide a list of possible solutions to each requirement of the Opinion and assessing their pros and cons. Instead of concentrating on the obstacles posed by the Court, it is incumbent to address the problems with innovative legal thinking and save the project of the EU acceding to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

Type
Developments
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 by German Law Journal, Inc. 

References

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70 Just as in the case of the previous point of the Opinion, the CJEU seems to seize the opportunity created by the DAA to remove a general problem in relationship between the ECHR and EU law, not necessarily related to the accession itself.Google Scholar

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98 For example, modeled after current Article 3(6) of the DAA.Google Scholar

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102 explanatory report to the DAA implicitly refers to the priority given to internal EU procedures: Even though this situation is expected to arise rarely, it was considered desirable that an internal EU procedure be put in place to ensure that the CJEU has the opportunity to assess the compatibility with the rights at issue defined in the Convention or in the protocols to which the European Union has acceded of the provision of EU law which has triggered the participation of the EU as a co-respondent. (emphasis added)Google Scholar

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103 Adhésion, Case 2/13 at para. 241.Google Scholar

104 See Lock, supra note 7, at 252.Google Scholar

105 Establishing the PIP without the necessary link with the CRM wouldn't be senseless by any means. There might be cases in which applications were filed against the EU alone where the CJEU did not assess previously the compatibility with the ECHR of a norm of EU law in question and no remedy to the CJEU must have been exhausted according to Article 35 paragraph 1 ECHR—namely if no Treaty remedies were available to the applicant in a given case, either ratione materiae or ratione temporis. In these situations, the PIP would be useful even though the CRM cannot be launched.Google Scholar

106 See European Court of Human Rights, Rules of Court 33 (Nov. 16, 2016), http://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Rules_Court_ENG.pdf.Google Scholar

107 See Draft explanatory report, supra note 2, para. 66.Google Scholar

Even though this situation is expected to arise rarely, it was considered desirable that an internal EU procedure be put in place to ensure that the CJEU has the opportunity to assess the compatibility with the rights at issue defined in the Convention or in the protocols to which the European Union has acceded of the provision of EU law which has triggered the participation of the EU as a co-respondent. Assessing the compatibility with the Convention shall mean to rule on the validity of a legal provision contained in acts of the EU institutions, bodies, offices, or agencies, or on the interpretation of a provision of the TEU, the TFEU, or of any other provision having the same legal value pursuant to those instruments.Google Scholar

108 Cf. The Court of Justice of the European Union, Discussion document of the Court of Justice of the European Union on certain aspects of the accession of the European Union to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms para. 12 (May 5, 2010), http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2010-05/convention_en.pdf; see also Breuer, supra note 5, at 345.Google Scholar

109 In Neulinger & Shuruk, the ECtHR remarked: The Court reiterates at the outset that it is primarily for the national authorities, notably the courts, to resolve problems of interpretation of domestic legislation. This also applies where domestic law refers to rules of general international law or to international agreements. The Court's role is confined to ascertaining whether those rules are applicable and whether their interpretation is compatible with the Convention.Google Scholar

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111 Cf. Christian Kohler, Luigi Malferrari, Um letzte und vorletzte Worte: Zum geplantem Zusammenwirken von EGMR und EuGH nach dem Beitritt der EU zur EMRK, 22 EuZW 850 (2011).Google Scholar

112 Adhésion, Case 2/13 at para. 249–57.Google Scholar

113 Lambrecht, supra note 7, at 195.Google Scholar

114 Cf. Storgaard, supra note 4, at 498.Google Scholar

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122 This observation was already made by Martin Kuijer in regard to a possible EU reservation concerning the CFSP. Cf. Kuijer, supra note 121, at 29.Google Scholar

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