Ironies in human rights protection in the EU: Pre-accession conditionality and post-accession conundrums

European Law Journal

Volumn 15, Issue 1, 2009, Pages 46-69

  Albi, Anneli ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF KENT   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 70449567015     PISSN: 13515993     EISSN: 14680386     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0386.2008.00450.x     Document Type: Article

References (165)

1. W. Sadurski, 'Accession's Democracy Dividend: The Impact of the EU Enlargement upon Democracy in the New Member States of Central and Eastern Europe', (2004) 10 European Law Journal 371 .
2. A. Williams , 'Enlargement and Human Rights Conditionality ', (2000) 25 European Law Review 601
3. B. De Witte, 'The Impact of Enlargement on the Constitution of the European Union', in M. Cremona (ed.), The Enlargement of the European Union (Oxford University Press, 2003), at 240.
4. A term borrowed from Williams, op cit n 2 supra , at 601.
5. G. De Burca , 'Beyond the Charter: How Enlargement has Enlarged the Human Rights Policy of the EU', (2003-2004) 27 Fordham International Law Journal 679.
6. A. Sajó , 'Learning Co-operative Constitutionalism the Hard Way: The Hungarian Constitutional Court Shying Away from EU Supremacy', (2004) 2 Zeitschrift für Staats- und Europawissenschaften 351 , at 371.
7. For a detailed account on the human rights conditionality, see, e.g., Williams, op cit n 2 supra , at 601.
8. M. Maresceau, 'Pre-Accession', On the conditionality in general, in Cremona, op cit n 2 supra , at 9-42
9. C. Hillion, 'Enlargement of the European Union: A Legal Analysis'
10. T. Arnull and D. Wincott (eds), Accountability and Legitimacy in the European Union (Oxford University Press, 2003), 401-418.
11. As summarised by Sadurski, op cit n 1 supra , at 375 (references omitted).
12. ibid , at 376-377
13. C. Dupré, Importing the Law in Post-Communist Transitions. The Hungarian Constitutional Court and the Right to Human Dignity (Hart, 2003), at 49-50.
14. ibid , at 376-377.
15. Dupré, op cit n 9 supra , at 39 ff. and 95 ff.
16. P. Alston and J. Weiler, 'A European Union Human Rights Policy', in P. Alston (ed.), The European Union and Human Rights (Oxford University Press, 1999), 9. For a broader analysis of the incoherence
17. A. Williams, EU Human Rights Policies: A Study in Irony (Oxford University Press, 2004).
18. Williams, op cit n 2 supra , at 601-602 and 611 ff.
19. De Witte, op cit n 2 supra , at 233-234
20. De Burca, op cit n 4 supra , at 699-700.
21. De Witte, op cit n 2 supra , at 233-234.
22. Williams, op cit n 2 supra , at 611
23. De Witte, op cit n 2 supra , at 234 and 239.
24. For a detailed analysis, see C. Hillion , 'Enlargement of the European Union - The Discrepancy between Membership Obligations and Accession Conditions As Regards the Protection of Minorities', (2003-04) 27 Fordham International Law Journal 717 .
25. Williams, op cit n 2 supra , at 614 and 616-617.
26. De Witte, op cit n 2 supra , at 240.
27. Sadurski, op cit n 1 supra , at 379-380.
28. Amnesty International, Report 2007 . The State of the World's Human Rights , available at http://www.amnesty.org.
29. Amnesty International, Linguistic Minorities in Estonia: Discrimination Must End (Document No EUR 51/002/2006, 7 December 2006), available at http://www.amnesty.org .
30. Panorama of Transport (Eurostat, 2007 edn), at 131, available http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu .
31. Europe in Figures - Eurostat Yearbook 2006-07 , Part 3 'Health', available at http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu .
32. D. Kochenov, EU Enlargement and the Failure of Conditionality: Pre-accession Conditionality in the Fields of Democracy and the Rule of Law (Kluwer Law International, 2008), at 300.
33. ibid , at 87 and 89 ff.
34. ibid , at 300; for examples of inconsistencies see 308 ff.
35. Sadurski, op cit n 1 supra , at 377.
36. Kochenov, op cit n 24 supra , at 305
37. Sadurski, op cit n 1 supra , at 378.
38. De Witte, op cit n 2 supra , at 230.
39. Kochenov, op cit n 24 supra , at 80-82.
40. De Burca, op cit n 4 supra , at 695
41. see 702 ff. for a detailed consideration of the changes.
42. Alston and Weiler, op cit n 12 supra , at 4-5.
43. A. Albi , 'Supremacy of EC Law in the New Member States: Bringing Parliaments into the Equation of "Co-operative Constitutionalism', (2007) 3 European Constitutional Law Review 25 .
44. [2003] OJ L293/3.
45. [2004] OJ L9/8.
46. See in more detail Sajó, op cit n 5 supra , at 351 ff.,
47. R. Uitz, 'EU Law and the Hungarian Constitutional Court: Lessons of the First Post-Accession Encounter'
48. W. Sadurski, J. Ziller and K. Zurek (eds), Après Enlargement: Taking Stock of the Immediate Legal and Political Responses to the Accession of Central and Eastern European States to the EU (EUI, 2006), 41-64.
49. For comments, see sections II.B and III .
50. We refer here to Tallinn Administrative Court Decision in Teskatel Ltd (Judgment No 3-2578/2004 of 17 October 2005). The precise issues and reasoning varied in a large number of other decisions.
51. [2003] OJ L236/33.
52. Weidacher [2002] Case C-179/00, ECR I-501.
53. Judgment No 3-3-1-33-06 of 5 October 2006, Hadleri Toidulisandite AS , in Estonian, available at http://www.nc.ee.
54. Action brought on 28 June 2004, Case T-257/04, Poland v EC Commission, OJ C251/20. [2004]
55. Action brought on 28 June 2004, Case T-258/04, Poland v EC Commission, OJ C251/21. [2004]
56. [2005] OJ C271/24.
57. Action brought on 25 August 2005, Case T-324/05, Estonia v EC Commission, OJ C271/48. [2005]
58. This, in essence, appears to indicate the Government's support to the claims of the companies in the above-mentioned national cases.
59. 'EU Loses Battle in WTO over Sugar Support', Eubusiness , 28 April 2005, available at http://www.eubusiness.com.
60. 'EU Announces Overhaul of Sugar Subsidies', Euobserver , 22 June 2005, available at http://ww.euobserver.com.
61. Pl. ÚS 50/04, 8 March 2006; English translation on file with the author.
62. W. Sadurski ,'S olange, Chapter 3': Constitutional Courts in Central Europe , EUI Law Working Paper (2006/40), at 9, republished in (2008) 14 (1) European Law Journal 1 .
63. This view is represented, e.g., by Sajó, op cit n 5 supra , at 351 ff. For a broadly similar view, see Sadurski, op cit n 50 supra , at 12.
64. For this view, see Uitz, op cit n 36 supra , at 44 ff.
65. Sajó, op cit n 5 supra , at 367-368.
66. E. Steyger, National Traditions and European Community Law: Margarine and Marriage (Ashgate, 1997), at 190 ff.
67. Affish [1997] Case C-183/95, ECR I-4315
68. Steyger, op cit n 54 supra , at 192.
69. T. Ojanen , 'The Impact of EU Membership on Finnish Constitutional Law', (2004) 10 European Public Law 531 , at 542 and 545.
70. Decision of 29 May 1974, BVerfGE 37, 271. For a detailed account of the fundamental rights cases of the Member States' constitutional courts
71. M. Claes, The National Courts' Mandate in the European Constitution (Hart Publishing, 2006).
72. For discussion of relevant literature, see S. Douglas-Scott, Constitutional Law of the European Union (Pearson Education, 2002), at 460-461 and 454-458. For an overview of German literature
73. M. Herdegen, 'The Origins and Development of the General Principles of Community Law'
74. U. Bernitz and J. Nergelius (eds), General Principles of European Community Law (Kluwer, 2000), at 10-12.
75. J. Coppel and A. O'Neill , 'The European Court of Justice: Taking Rights Seriously?', (1992) 29 Common Market Law Review 669 , at 670 ff. and 692.
76. J. Weiler and N. Lockhart Taking Rights Seriously Seriously: The European Court and its Fundamental Rights Jurisprudence', (1995) 32 Common Market Law Review 51 and 579 .
77. U. Everling , 'Will Europe Slip on Bananas? The Bananas Judgment of the Court of Justice and National Courts', (1996) 33 Common Market Law Review 401
78. Herdegen, op cit n 58 supra , at 11.
79. Decision of 7 June 2000 (Bananas), BVefGE 102, 147, referring to Solange II , Decision of 22 October 1986, BverfGE 73, 339. For details, see Claes, op cit n 57 supra , at 616 ff.
80. Case C-280/93, Germany v Council [1994] ECR I-4973.
81. Herdegen, op cit n 58 supra , at 11 and 21
82. B. De Witte, 'The Past and Future Role of the European Court of Justice in the Protection of Human Rights'
83. Alston, op cit n 12 supra , at 878-879.
84. Everling, op cit n 61 supra , at 413 and 419.
85. L. Besselink , 'Entrapped by the Maximum Standard: On Fundamental Rights, Pluralism and Subsidiarity in the European Union', (1998) 35 Common Market Law Review 629 , at 634 ff
86. De Witte, op cit n 64 supra , at 879.
87. Besselink, op cit n 66 supra , at 634 ff
88. Ojanen, op cit n 56 supra , at 543-544.
89. Besselink, op cit n 66 supra , at 634 ff
90. De Witte, op cit n 64 supra , at 879.
91. De Witte, op cit n 64 supra , at 882-883. The standing rules are set to be facilitated under the Lisbon Treaty.
92. ibid , at 869.
93. T. Tridimas, The General Principles of EC Law (Oxford University Press, 1999), at 169 and 173.
94. For a detailed analysis of the ECJ's case-law on the principles of legal certainty and legitimate expectations, see ch 6 of the new edition of this book (T. Tridimas, The General Principles of EU Law (Oxford University Press, 2006)).
95. X. Groussot, General Principles of Community law (Europa Law Publishing, 2006), at 202-212
96. J. Raitio, The Principle of Legal Certainty in EC Law (Kluwer, 2003), ch 6.
97. G. De Burca, 'Proportionality and Subsidiarity as General Principles of Law', in Bernitz and Nergelius, op cit n 58 supra , at 98-99. But see the recent case C-310/04, Spain v Council n 77 infra , and the accompanying text.
98. Tridimas, The General Principles of EU Law , op cit n 71 supra , at 315.
99. D. Chalmers , 'Judicial Authority and the Constitutional Treaty', (2005) 3 International Journal of Constitutional Law 448 , at 451.
100. Four cases concerned regulations establishing countervailing or anti-dumping duties, which in essence are administrative in nature; three involved points of principle or a declaration. Meanwhile, a more aggressive approach is taken by the Courts in the challenges brought against the administrative acts of the Commission. The data are taken from Chalmers, 'op cit n 74 supra , at 451-452.
101. Groussot, op cit n 71 supra , at 157.
102. C-310/04, Spain v Council , Judgment of 7 September 2006, not yet reported; for an overview and comment, see the casenote by X. Groussot in (2007) 44 Common Market Law review 761 .
103. Case C-36/02, Omega [2004] ECR I-9609.
104. Schmidberger [2003] Case C-183/95, ECR I-5659.
105. J. Morijn , 'Balancing Fundamental Rights and Common Market Freedoms in Union Law: Schmidberger and Omega in the Light of the European Constitution', (2006) 12 European Law Journal 15 , at 16.
106. Case C-127/07, Société Arcelor , reference for a preliminary ruling lodged by Conseil d'État on 5 March 2007. For details
107. X. Groussot, 'Supremacy à la Francaise: Another French Exception?', (2008) Yearbook of European Law , forthcoming and O. Pollicino , 'Conseil d'Etat: Decision No. 287110 of 8 February 2007, Société Arcelor Atlan tique et Lorraine and others . The Conseil d'Etat and the Relationship between French Internal Law after Arcelor: Has Something Really Changed?', (2008) 45 Common Market Law Review 1519.
108. Groussot, op cit n 81 supra , and Pollicino, op cit n 81 supra , at 1530.
109. Case T-16/04, Arcelor v European Parliament and Council , action brought on 15 January 2004.
110. Groussot, op cit n 81 supra , and Pollicino, op cit n 81 supra , at 1532.
111. R. Barents , 'Recent Developments in Community Case Law in the Field of Agriculture', (1997) 34 Common Market Law Review 811 , at 841, cited in Groussot's casenote on C-310/04, Spain v Council , n 77, 772 supra .
112. Application No 45036/98 Bosphorus v Ireland [2005] ECHR 440. For a more detailed account, see S. Peers , 'Bosphorus v Ireland and the Protection of Fundamental Rights in Europe', (2006) 2 European Constitutional Law Review 443
113. C. Costello , 'The Bosphorus Ruling of the ECHR: Fundamental Rights and Blurry Boundaries in Europe', (2006) 6 Human Rights Law Review 87.
114. Joint Concurring Opinion of Judges Rozakis, Tulkens, Traja, Botoucharova, Zagrebelsky and Garlicki, and Concurring Opinion of Judge Ress, in Bosphorus v Ireland , n 86 supra . For discussion on the 'double standards'
115. K. Kuhnert , 'Bosphorus - Double Standards in European Human Rights Protection?', (2006) 2 Utrecht Law Review 177 , available at http://www.utrechtlawreview.org .
116. Concurring Opinion of Judge Ress, n 87 supra . A number of his points find support in the analysis developed by Peers, who concludes that the judgment 'constitutes a missed opportunity to establish a clear, coherent and un compromising approach to the protection of human rights within the Community legal order'; see Peers, op cit n 86 supra , at 455. See also Kuhnert, op cit n 87 supra , at 177 ff.
117. Jego-Quere v Commissio n [2002] Case T-177/01, ECR II-2365.
118. Joint Concurring Opinion, n 87 supra .
119. Costello, op cit n 86 supra , 104-105, with reference to a speech delivered by Judge Wildhaber, the President of the Human Rights Court.
120. Sajó, op cit n 5 supra , at 371.
121. W. Sadurski (ed.), Constitutional Justice, East and West. Democratic Legitimacy and Constitutional Courts in Post-Communist Europe in a Comparative Perspective (Kluwer Law International, 2002)
122. H. Schwartz, The Struggle for Constitutional Justice in Post-Communist Europe (University of Chicago Press, 2000)
123. J. Priban, P. Roberts and J. Young (eds), S ystems of Justice in Transition. Central European Experiences since 1989 (Ashgate, 2003)
124. W. Sadurski, Rights Before Courts: A Study of Constitutional Courts in Postcommunist States of Central and Eastern Europe (Springer, 2005).
125. For the two categories of constitutions, see L. Besselink, 'The Dutch Constitution, the European Constitution and the Referendum in the Netherlands'
126. A. Albi and J. Ziller (eds), The European Constitution and National Constitutions: Ratification and Beyond (Kluwer, 2006), at 113 ff.
127. A. Albi, EU Enlargement and the Constitutions of Central and Eastern Europe (Cambridge University Press, 2005), at 22 ff.
128. E. Smith, 'The Constitution as an Instrument of Change: Introduction', in E. Smith (ed.), The Constitution as an Instrument of Change (SNS Förlag, 2003), at 15 ff.
129. Dupré, op cit n 9 supra , at 20.
130. ibid , at 22.
131. H. Schwartz , 'Eastern Europe's Constitutional Courts', (1998) 9 Journal of Democracy 100 , at 104.
132. K.L. Scheppele , 'The New Hungarian Constitutional Court', (1999) 8 East European Constitutional Review 4 .
133. S. Ishiyama Smithey and J. Ishiyama ,'Judicial Activism in Post-Communist Politics', (2002) 36 Law and Society Review 719 , at 723.
134. B. Aaviksoo , 'Kohtulik activism põhiseaduslikkuse järelevalve funktsioonina. Kui aktivistlik on Eesti põhiseaduskohus?' [Judicial activism as a function of constitutional review. How activist is the Estonian Constitutional Court?', (2005) 5 Juridica 295 , at 296.
135. Schwartz, op cit n 97 supra , at 104.
136. Sadurski, op cit n 50 supra , at 14
137. Dupré, op cit n 9 supra , at 31.
138. Dupré, op cit n 9 supra , at 31.
139. Sadurski, op cit n 50 supra , at 14.
140. ibid , at 14.
141. Dupré, op cit n 9 supra , at 150
142. Sajó, op cit n 5 supra , at 371.
143. Judgment of 11 May 2005 in Case K 18/04. An English summary of the judgment is available at the Constitutional Tribunal's website: http://www.trybunal.gov.pl/eng/summaries/documents/K_18_04_GB.pdf , paras 8 and 14.
144. Dupré, op cit n 9 supra , at 24 and 132.
145. C. Kollonay Lehoczky, 'European Enlargement: A Comparative View of Hungarian Labour Law', in G. Bermann and K. Pistor (eds), Law and Governance in an Enlarged European Union (Hart, 2004), at 209 ff. (writing in the context of labour law).
146. ibid , at 290 ff.
147. Dupré, op cit n 9 supra , at 24 and 127
148. W. Sadurski , 'Charter and Enlargement', (2002) 8 European Law Journal 340 , at 352.
149. Dupré, op cit n 9 supra , at 127.
150. Sadurski, op cit n 111 supra , at 352 and 353-355
151. Dupré, op cit n 9 supra , at 120 ff.
152. Dupré, op cit n 9 supra , at 120 ff.; see ibid for examples.
153. ibid , at 120, 122 and 125-126.
154. W. Sadurski, Constitutional Courts in the Process of Articulating Constitutional Rights in the Post-Communist States of Central and Eastern Europe. Part IV: Restrictions on Constitutional Rights , EUI Law Working Paper (2003/10), at 18.
155. By way of example, Schwartz mentions the constitutional courts of Albania, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Romania and post-1993 Russia in this context; Schwartz, op cit n 97 supra , at 113.
156. F. Emmert , 'Administrative and Court Reform in Central and Eastern Europe', 2003 (9) European Law Journal 288 .
157. As regards the Hungarian sugar stocks case, see, e.g., Sajó, op cit n 5 supra , at 351, and Sadurski, op cit n 50 supra , at 5-6. As regards the other cases, see for a detailed account Albi, op cit n 33 supra , at 25.
158. Sadurski, op cit n 50 supra , at 5.
159. Indeed it has earlier been suggested that the recent constitution-making experiences in CEE would have made these countries well placed to participate more actively in the convention that drafted the European Constitution
160. Sadurski, op cit n 111 supra , at 359-360.
161. Everling, op cit n 61 supra , at 435-436.
162. Admittedly, Art 53 is regarded as a general political statement without any consequences to the supremacy of EC law
163. J.B. Liisberg , 'Does the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights Threaten the Supremacy of Community Law', (2001) 38 Common Market Law Review 1171 , at 1198.
164. R. Lawson, 'The Impact of the EU Constitution on the Relationship between Strasbourg and Luxembourg', in D. Curtin, A. Kellermann and S. Blockmans (eds), The EU Constitution: The Best Way Forward? (TMC Asser Press, 2005), at 386-387.
165. To borrow an expression used by Everling, op cit n 61 supra .