Problems regarding the European Union’s accession to the European Convention on Human Rights
Abstract
The EU Treaties mandate the EU’s accession to the European Convention on Human Rights. To this end, the EU and the Council of Europe completed in 2023 a draft accession agreement, which limits the jurisdiction of the ECHR so that it does not interfere with the autonomy of European Union law. Thus, it aims to solve the main objection raised in Opinion 2/2013 of the ECJ, which blocked a first accession agreement over a decade ago. However, the new agreement does not solve all the objections made by the ECJ and lowers the ECHR’s standards of protection of human rights. Consequently, a reform of the EU treaties remains necessary to prevent EU law from eroding civil liberties and social rights in Europe.
Received: 04 October 2025; Accepted: 04 June 2026; Published online: Articles in Press 16 July 2026
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References
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