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Accession of the European Union
to the European Convention on Human Rights

Headlines

Strasbourg, 05/04/2013 – Negotiators of the 47 Council of Europe member states and the European Union have finalised the draft accession agreement of the European Union to the European Convention on Human rights. The EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg will now be asked to give its opinion on the text. More on...

Presentation

Formal and informal talks and reflection on the ways to achieve the accession of the European Union to the European Convention on Human Rights have taken place within both organisations since the late 1970s.

This issue was brought to the forefront once again in the light of the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights. In 2001, the Working Group on the Legal and Technical Issues of a Possible EU Accession to the European Convention on Human Rights (GT-DH-EU) was instructed to carry out a study of the legal and technical issues that would have to be addressed by the Council of Europe in the event of possible accession by the European Union to the ECHR, as well as of the other means to avoid any contradiction between the legal system of the European Union and the system of the Convention.

After the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty and of Protocol 14 to the ECHR, this is no longer merely a wish: it is a legal obligation. However, some adjustments to the Convention system are inevitable in order to welcome as the 48th High Contracting Party a non-state entity with a specific and complex legal system. The EU accession to the Convention is one of the highest priorities of the Organisation for the immediate future.

The accession of the EU to the Convention is as a historical step for several reasons:

As a result of acceding to the ECHR the Union will be integrated into its fundamental rights protection system. In addition to the internal protection of these rights by the internal law of the Union and the Court of Justice, which is strengthened by the incorporation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights into its primary law, the Union will be bound to respect the ECHR and placed under the external control of the European Court of Human Rights .

This will close a gap in human rights protection and enhance consistency between the Strasbourg and the Luxembourg human rights systems. Accession to the ECHR will afford citizens protection against the action of the Union similar to that which they already enjoy against action by all the Member States, thereby improving judicial protection of fundamental rights in Europe for the individuals.

The accession will also enhance the credibility of the Union in the eyes of third countries which it regularly calls upon in its bilateral relations to respect the ECHR.

The negociation process

To this aim, on 4 June 2010, the EU Justice Ministers gave the European Commission the mandate to conduct the negotiations on their behalf. On 26 May 2010, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe gave an ad-hoc mandate to its Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH) to elaborate with the EU the necessary legal instrument for the EU’s accession to the ECHR. An informal working group, composed of 14 experts from the member States of the Council of Europe (7 from EU member States and 7 from non-EU member States) has been entrusted to discuss and elaborate, together with the European Commission, the legal instruments for the accession.

Between July 2010 and June 2011, that informal working group held in total eight meetings with the European Commission during which it elaborated and transmitted to the CDDH a draft accession agreement, its explanatory report and a draft rule to be added to the Rules of the Committee of Ministers for the supervision of the execution of judgments and of the terms of friendly settlements. The draft instruments contain provisions on the scope of the accession (including questions related to the accession to the various protocols, to admissible reservations etc.), the technical adaptations needed to the ECHR text, the participation of the EU in CoE bodies involved in the ECHR system (including its financial participation to the system and its right to vote in the Committee of Ministers), and the possible further adaptations of the ECHR system to the specificities of the EU system, including the creation of a co-respondent mechanism in cases involving both the EU and one or more of its member States.

In October 2011, the CDDH discussed the draft instruments and, given the political implications of some of the pending problems, agreed to transmit a report and the draft instruments to the Committee of Ministers for consideration and further guidance. On 13 June 2012, the Committee of Ministers instructed the CDDH to pursue negotiations with the European Union, in an ad hoc group “47+1”, with a view to finalising without delay the accession instruments (link to the CM decision). That ad hoc group has so far held four meetings in Strasbourg (21 June 2012, 17-19 September 2012, 7-9 November 2012 and 21-23 January 2013). The last meeting has been held on 2-5 April 2013.

Link to working documents

Link to meeting reports