The EU's Accession to the Convention on Human Rights: A New Era of Closer Cooperation between the Council of Europe and the EU?
| Author | Simone White |
| Published date | 01 December 2010 |
| Date | 01 December 2010 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/203228441000100404 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
New Journal of Eur opean Crimina l Law, Vol. 1, Issue 4, 2010 433
tHe eU’s ACCessIon to tHe
ConventIon on HUMAn RIGHts:
A new eRA oF CLoseR CooPeRAtIon
between tHe CoUnCIL oF eURoPe
AnD tHe eU?
S W*1
ABSTRAC T
e sound development of EU c riminal law depends on the adoption of human rights
standards at EU level. e EU’s accession to the Convention on Human Rights has been
described a s ‘mission impossible’ becaus e of the number and complexit y of issues to be
negotiated. Yet the stakes are high and there is a political will to build a coherent human
rights s ystem at European level. e author argues tha t the working link between the
European Union and the Council of Europe needs to be further strengthened and that a
‘Greater Europe’ criminal l aw/human rights regime will be ma de possible by the
accession of the European Union to ECHR.
Accession of the EU to the ECHR is of pivotal impor tance to the development of
European criminal law. e piecemeal i ncorporation of Convention rights into EC
(now EU) law a s ‘principles of EC law’ just lacks credibilit y when it comes to EU
procedural law or the possibility of adopting a European Public Prosecutor. Accession
can only contribute to a climate of ‘mutual tru st’ that is so oen found lack ing when
it comes to mutual recognition in practice. Historically, however, accession has proved
impossible until the recent Treaty change.
* PhD. e author works at the European Anti-Fraud Oc e and is a Hon. Re search fel low at the
Institute of Advanced Le gal Studies in London. is artic le is not intended to reect the views of the
European Com mission.
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