The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union: The First Ten Years-New Challenges and Perspectives

Laws ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 76
Author(s):  
Vasileios G. Tzemos ◽  
Konstantinos Margaritis

Since 1 December 2009, the time when the Treaty of Lisbon came into force, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (hereinafter: the EU Charter, the Charter) has been formally included in the EU legal order as primary EU law [...]

2013 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 1867-1888 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Usai

This paper examines the role and importance of the freedom to conduct a business enshrined in Article 16 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CFR). With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the CFR became legally binding, gaining the same legal value as the Treaties. It will be argued here that Article 16 CFR, which recognizes the right to economic initiative, can be an important force for European integration by acting as a new engine of European social, economic, and political integration. That said, Article 16 should be read bearing its limitations in mind.


2015 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 145-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuli MIETTINEN ◽  
Merita KETTUNEN

AbstractThe Court of Justice of the European Union has historically rejected references to preparatory work in the interpretation of EU Treaties. However, the preparatory work for the EURATOM, Maastricht, and Constitutional Treaties have played a role in recent judgments. The ‘explanations’ to the Charter of Fundamental Rights are expressly approved in the current Treaties. We examine the emerging case law on preparatory work. Reference to the drafters’ intent does not necessarily support dynamic interpretation, and may potentially even ossify historical interpretations. Even if the consequence of their introduction is a conservative interpretation, their use raises questions of transparency and democracy, and complicates the already difficult task of interpreting the EU constitution.


2021 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 174-182
Author(s):  
Kaie Rosin

Although the EU lacks explicit competence to harmonise national principles of criminal law, there are many ways in which EU law and national criminal law are interconnected on a level deeper than mere minimum standards adopted from directives. The article analyses these intersections between EU law and fundamental principles of Estonian substantive criminal law, explaining how the principles of criminal law recognised and interpreted in the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU and covered by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union exhibit the capacity to affect fundamental principles of Estonian substantive criminal law. The article focuses on five principles specific to substantive criminal law, which are derived from the fundamental principles of the Estonian Constitution and have equivalents in human-rights law: the principle of legality of criminal law, the principle of retroactive application of the more lenient criminal law, proportionality, ultima ratio, and the principle of individual guilt. The analysis demonstrates that the relationship between EU law and the various principles of substantive criminal law is not uniform because the principles of substantive criminal law are not developed evenly at European Union level.


2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 451-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cath Larkins

AbstractThere has been increasing interest in children's rights from the EU, seen in the Commission's 2006 Communication (COM(367) Final 2006), the Treaty of Lisbon 2009 and the Commission's 2011 Communication An EU Agenda for the Rights of the Child (COM(2011) 60 final). The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union Article 24(1), states that children 'may express their views freely. Such views shall be taken into consideration on matters which concern them in accordance with their age and maturity.' The time is therefore ripe to address the views of children towards the EU, in the expectation that the EU may be ready to take them into consideration. In research in two EU Member States, fifty-five children aged 5 to 13 – in groups of refugee, minority ethnic, looked after, gypsy traveller, disabled and young caring children – developed claims for citizenship. This article looks at examples of the groups' claims in the context of EU policy, to explore what the EU could do to live up to the expectations of these young citizens.


2009 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 257-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christof Mandry

AbstractThe self-understanding of the Europeans has been profoundly put into question since 1989, and during the EU reform process, 'Europe' was confronted by the task of describing itself anew. In this context, the debate about the significance of the religious patrimony took on a key position in the discourse. The broad public discussions of the preambles to the European Charter of Fundamental Rights and the Treaty establishing a Constitution for the European Union (ECT) indicate that the relationship between religion and political remains a controversial issue. The article argues that the 'preamble disputes' are part and parcel of the European Union's quest for a political identity and that the outcome of the identity debate—the self-description as a 'community of values'—deals in a specific way with this fundamental question.


2011 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 283-309
Author(s):  
Steve Peers

AbstractSince the conferral of binding legal effect on the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights with the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, the Court of Justice has taken an active role in developing the Charter as the leading source of human rights rules in the EU legal order. While the Court has begun to clarify some important points relating to the Charter, a number of significant issues still need to be addressed.


Author(s):  
Alessia Vacca

This article focuses on the comparison between European Union Law and Council of Europe Law in the field of the protection of minority languages and looks at the relationships between the two systems. The Council of Europe has been very important in the protection of minority languages, having created two treaties of particular relevance: the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in 1992 and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in 1995; both treaties contain many detailed provisions relating to minority languages. Not all countries, even of the European Union, have ratified these treaties. 12 out of 27 EU countries did not ratify the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The European Union supports multilingualism because it wants to achieve unity while maintaining diversity. Important steps, with respect to minority languages, were taken in the European Community, notably in the form of European Parliament Resolutions. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, approved in Nice the 7th December 2000, contains art. 21 and art. 22 related to this topic. The Treaty of Lisbon makes a cross reference to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union which is, consequently, legally binding under the Treaty of Lisbon since December 2009. The Charter could give ground for appeal to the European Court of Justice in cases of discrimination on the grounds of language


2021 ◽  

The volume includes contributions from a meeting of the Frankfurt Institute for the Law of the European Union of the Faculty of Law of the European University Viadrina on the effectiveness of the protection of fundamental rights in the EU on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the legal binding nature of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. With contributions by Markus Rau, LL.M.; Dr. Peter Szczekalla; Prof. apl. Dr. Carmen Thiele; RA Dr. Christian Hilbrandt; Prof. Dr. Walter Frenz; Prof. Dr. Ines Härtel; Clara Pira Machel and Gabriel N. Toggenburg.


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