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Coherent laws enforced by a central authority are part of the reason why human rights protection works at the national level in Europe. But when it comes to the EU these dimensions are lacking. The present system for protecting fundamental rights emerged on an ad hoc basis, with measures being improvised to respond to particular problems. In the next couple of years, however, this situation is likely to change very significantly. The proposed European Constitution incorporates the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, and a specialized EU Fundamental Rights Agency is likely to be established. As a result, the situation of the EU will more closely resemble that of its Member States. Fundamental rights will occupy a central role, and coherent and systematic arrangements will be in place to protect rights, using both judicial and non-judicial means. The Fundamental Rights Agency, in particular, has immense potential to ensure effective monitoring of fundamental rights in the EU, and to ensure a unified strategy for their promotion in EU law and policy. This volume is the first to critically examine the proposals put forward by the European Commission in October 2004 on the creation of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency. Leading scholars in the field of European and international human rights law analyse the potential significance of this innovative Agency, and seek to locate it in relation to various other human rights mechanisms, both in the EU’s constitutional structure and within Member States. They review the tasks which the Agency could be called upon to perform, and make proposals as to how it can function most effectively. The relationship of EU law to the international law of human rights emerging from both the United Nations and the Council of Europe is examined. The authors also address the challenge of ensuring improved coherence between EU law and the other human rights obligations undertaken by the Member States. Taken together, these contributions address urgent questions facing the EU at a time when the central unifying function of fundamental rights has been recognized but the way forward remains largely uncharted.

By giving further effect to the European Convention on Human Rights,the Human Rights Act 1998 has had a significant effect on property law. Article 1 of the First Protocol to the Convention is particularly important, as it protects against the interference with the enjoyment of possessions. Compulsory acquisition, insolvency, planning, taxation, environmental regulation, and landlord and tenant laws are just some of the fields where the British and European courts have already had to assess the impact of the Protocol on private property. The Human Rights Act 1998 also restricts the scope of property rights, as some Convention rights conflict with rights of private property. For example, the Article 8 right to respect for the home has been used to protect against environmental harm, in some cases at the expense of property and economic rights. This book seeks to provide a structured approach to the extensive case law of the European Court of Human Rights and the UK courts on these issues, and to provide guidance on the direction the law is likely to take in future. Chapters cover the history and drafting of the relevant Convention rights, the scope and structure of the rights (especially Article 1 of the First Protocol), and how, through the Human Rights Act 1998, the Convention rights have already affected and are likely to affect developments in selected areas of English law.

The European Human Rights Culture - A Paradox of Human Rights Protection in Europe? analyses the political term \"European Human Rights Culture\", a term first introduced by EU Commission President Barroso. Located in the fields of comparative law and European law, this book analyses, through first-hand interviews with the European judiciary, the judicial perspective on the European human rights culture and sets this in context to the political dimension of the term. In addition, it looks at the structures and procedures of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), and explains the embedding of the Courts' legal cultures. It offers an in-depth analysis of the margin of appreciation doctrine at both the CJEU and ECtHR, and shows its value for addressing human rights grievances.

Depuis le Traite d'Amsterdam, la protection des droits fondamentaux dans l'Union europeenne a 30 connu d'importantes evolutions. De nouveaux textes ont ete adoptes, d'abord la Charte des droits fondamentaux, ensuite le Traite de Lisbonne. Les interactions entre le systeme de la Convention europeenne des droits de l'homme et celui de l'Union se sont accrues et l'adhesion de l'Union a la Convention a ete envisagee.Remarquables, de telles evolutions se sont-elle traduites par une veritable revolution ? Ne peut-on considerer, au contraire, qu'aucun bouleversement ne s'est produit et que la permanence caracterise le developpement de la protection des droits fondamentaux dans l'Union ? C'est la question a laquelle se propose de repondre le present ouvrage, fruit du colloque annuel de la CEDECE, Association d'etudes europeennes, qui s'est tenu a la Faculte de Droit et de Science politique de Montpellier.Apres etre revenu sur la question, toujours actuelle, de l'autonomie du systeme de protection des droits fondamentaux de l'Union, l'ouvrage rassemble les contributions des specialistes de la matiere en trois parties. Sont ainsi successivement abordes la structuration apparente des fondements de la protection, la mise a jour des droits garantis et le renouvellement partiel des modalites de protection.L'ouvrage constitue un apport majeur pour tous les praticiens, chercheurs et etudiants que le droit de l'Union europeenne et la protection des droits fondamentaux en Europe interessent.

The end of the Cold War has ushered a restructuring of the institutions of the European Community, culminating into its enlargement to Eastern Europe, under the aegis of economic integration, democracy and human rights. This book examines the development and the role of human rights in the European Union, from its inception as an economic co-operation project to an organisation of European States with a political agenda that goes beyond its borders. It argues that human rights have become an important component of the foreign policy of the European Union and that this role has grown from the inception of the Union through the Cold War and thereafter onto the process of enlargement of the Union. The book goes on to analyse the EU’s policy on minorities, as a particular example of human rights. It considers the level of their protection within the EU and the framework of international law, and compares minority rights in the older Member States including France, Germany and the UK, with newer Eastern European states. 1. Overview 2. A Background to the Establishment of Human Rights in the Law and Policies of the European Union 3. The Common Foreign and Security Policy as an Instrument of Human Rights Policy 4. The EU and the Protection of Minority Rights in Europe Chapter 5. Minority Rights in the Member States Kirsten Shoraka has a PhD in law from the London School of Economics and worked as legal advisor for Fair Trials International, Office of Fair Trading, German Institute of Human Rights, the German Foreign Office and the Social Democrat Party in the German Parliament.

In her manuscript Elisa Ravasi thoroughly analyses the principle of equivalent protection of the ECtHR and subsequently she examines its application in favour of the EU considering whether the presumption of equivalent protection of human rights is still justified.

The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership was formed in 1995 in Barcelona. In this volume, concepts of democracy, civil society, human rights and dialogue among civilizations in the Mediterranean region are addressed in the context of the new Euro-Mediterranean Partnership.

This book contributes to the debate about the impact of European Community Law on the national constitutional orders and cultures of the respective Member States. The author examines the doctrine of sovereignty as a mechanism within which this impact may be best assessed and in particular how it underwrites the tension between European Union rights and the rights provided by the respective legal orders of the Member States. In particular the book focuses on political,social and civil rights, drawing from T.H. Marshall’s typology. In endorsing an appropriate analytical framework, the book challenges both existing law and secondary literature in order to argue that the terminology, the concepts and the tools which are used to assess the impact of the EC law on the national constitutional orders are to be selected with great care. This is particularly apposite given the complexity of constitutional diversity, in terms of national constitutions and their reception of EC law. It is also important because of the variety of approaches involved in the constitutional adjustment of the acquis of the Union within the context of the increasing drive to constitutionalisation of the Union on the one hand and enlargement on the other.

The EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) was established to provide evidence-based policy advice to EU institutions and Member States. By blending social science research with traditional normative work, it aims to influence human rights policy processes through new ways of framing empirical realities. The contributors to this volume critically examine the experience of the Agency in its first decade, exploring FRA’s historical, political and legal foundations and its evolving record across major strands of EU fundamental rights. Central themes arising from these chapters include consideration of how the Agency manages the tension between a mandate to advise and the more traditional approach of human rights bodies to ‘monitor’, and how its research impacts the delicate equilibrium between these two contesting roles. FRA’s experience as the first ‘embedded’ human rights agency in transnational governance is also highlighted, suggesting a role for alternative and less oppositional orientations for human rights research. While authors observe the benefits of the technocratic approach to human rights research that is a hallmark of FRA’s evidence-based policy advice, they also note its constraints. FRA’s policy work requires a continued awareness of political realities in Brussels, Member States, and civil society. Consequently, the complex process of determining the Agency’s research agenda reflects the strategic priorities of key actors. This is an important factor in the Agency’s role in the EU human rights landscape. This pioneering position of the Agency should invite reflection on new forms of institutionalized human rights research for the future.