๋่just before Christmas 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU or the Court)
gave its long-awaited ruling on the European Union’s accession to the European
Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)
This ruling, Opinion 2/13, is a complex judgment
that raises many legal questions. This case comment sets out: A summary of the ruling; an
assessment of the consequences of the ruling; and an initial critique of the Court’s
reasoning.
On the latter point, the Court’s ruling is fundamentally flawed. In short, the
Court is seeking to protect the basic elements of EU law by disregarding the fundamental
values upon which the Union was founded.