P hi iguste kohtulik kaitse Euroopa Liidus

[Protection of Human Rights in the European Union] Two human rights developments are currently important in the European Union: Article I-9 (2) of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe proscribes that the Union shall accede to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms Article I-9 (1) of this Constitutional Treaty states that the Union shall recognize the rights, freedoms and principles set out in the Charter of Fundamental Rights which constitutes Part II of the Treaty establishing the Constitution for Europe. The aim of this article is to answer the questions what do the referred legal developments theoretically and practically mean for the European Union, especially for litigation. The first Part of the article discusses the possible accession of the European Union to the European Convention on Human Rights and the implications of such accession. The second Part discusses the content, legal and political status of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. The following conclusions were reached in the article. Accession of the European Union to the Convention on Human Rights would guarantee the principle of legal certainty in protection of human rights by changing those rights more visible for individuals. Such accession would eliminate the discrepancies from interpretation of human rights by the European Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Justice, thus guaranteeing more systematic application of human rights. Such accession would enable direct control by the Court of Human Rights over the compatibility of European Union institutions acts with the Convention on Human Rights. Finally, such accession would allow the European Union to assume responsibility for human rights violations. The Charter of Fundamental Rights codifies clear human rights for the European Union. Also the binding nature of the Charter would guarantee better realization of the principle of legal certainty. The Charter would broaden the protection of rights ratione materiae by emphasising also economic, social and cultural rights, and codifying “new” human rights that have been born in the course of recent scientific and technical developments. The Charter helps to approximate the application of human rights by the European Union in its internal and external relations, as the Charter would be binding on the European Union institutions and on the Member States to the extent they implement Union law.