HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE EUROPEAN CONSTITUTIONAL ORDER

EVALUATING THE DRAFT REVISED AGREEMENT ON THE ACCESSION OF THE EU TO THE CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS IN LIGHT OF THE OPINION 2/13 OF THE CJEU Tomáš Kaňka Abstract The European Union is now closer than ever to fulfilling its obligation under the Art. 6 (2) of the Treaty on European Union, that is, to accede to the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Almost 10 years after the negative Opinion 2/13 of the Court of Justice of the European Union and long negotiations, the revision of the Draft Accession Agreement has been completed. This article focuses on comparison of the Draft revised Agreement on the Accession of the EU to the ECHR with the main requirements of the CJEU set out in its Opinion 2/13. The article assesses each of them individually and, where it finds any persistent shortcomings, it tries to offer their possible solution. Introduction The aim of this article is to evaluate the Draft revised Agreement on the Accession of the EU to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (hereinafter referred to as “Draft revised Agreement” or “RA”) in the light of Opinion 2/13 of the Court of Justice of the European Union (hereinafter referred to as “CJEU”). On the 17 th of March 2023 on the 18th meeting of the CDDH ad hoc negotiation group of the accession of the European Union to the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (hereinafter referred to as “negotiation group”) the Final consolidated version of the draft accession instruments has been adopted. 1 Based on this proposal the Draft Agreement on the Accession of the EU to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms from 2013 (hereinafter referred to as “original Draft Agreement”) was revised. According to the negotiation group, all the shortcomings that led the CJEU to conclude that the original Draft agreement was incompatible with the primary EU

1 Final consolidated version of the draft accession instruments from the 17 th of March 2023, 46+1(2023)36, cited: [2024-02-05]. Available at: https://rm.coe.int/final-consolidated-version-of-the-draft-accession instruments/1680aaaecd.

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