Accession of the European Union to the European Convention on Human Rights Examining the CJEU's Approach in the Opinion 2/13 the Future of the EU-ECHR Accession Process

Abstract

The matter of accession of the European Union ("EU") to the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms ("ECHR") has been for decades a hot topic of legal and academic discussions. On the 18th December 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union ("CJEU") issued its long awaited Opinion 2/13 where the CJEU ruled that the Draft agreement on the accession of the EU to the ECHR is not compatible with EU law. In the first part of this paper, I examine the CJEU's approach taken in its Opinion 2/13 and I particularly try to see its reasoning from a different perspective which leads me to the conclusion that the CJEU is maybe not as selfish as it might seem at first sight. In the second part, I cope with the development of future steps regarding the EU accession to the ECHR. My aim was to assess so far offered solutions and try to outline way out of current knotty situation.

Keywords: Draft revised agreement on the accession of the European Union to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, Opinion 2/13, Court of Justice of the European Union.