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Louise Halleskov Storgaard, EU Law Autonomy versus European Fundamental Rights Protection—On Opinion 2/13 on EU Accession to the ECHR , Human Rights Law Review, Volume 15, Issue 3, September 2015, Pages 485–521, https://doi.org/10.1093/hrlr/ngv012
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Abstract
In the recently issued Opinion 2/13 , the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that European Union (EU) accession to the European Convention on Human Rights on the basis of the current Draft Accession Agreement would be incompatible with the EU Treaties. This article examines the impact of Opinion 2/13 on European fundamental rights protection. It argues that the concerns for EU law autonomy expressed in the Opinion for the most part are unwarranted and that the Court, through the use of classic constitutionalist language, seeks to position EU law as the superior European fundamental rights regime. The article furthermore argues that the Opinion, in both form and substance, is in line with the pattern of the Court opting for a more autonomous EU approach to fundamental rights adjudication following the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty and that this development gives rise to serious concerns about the effectiveness and coherence of fundamental rights in Europe.