Raulus, Helena --- "The Charter of Fundamental Rights as a Set of Constitutional Principles" [2012] ELECD 520; in Trybus, Martin; Rubini, Luca (eds), "The Treaty of Lisbon and the Future of European Law and Policy" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: The Treaty of Lisbon and the Future of European Law and Policy

Editor(s): Trybus, Martin; Rubini, Luca

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9780857932556

Section: Chapter 10

Section Title: The Charter of Fundamental Rights as a Set of Constitutional Principles

Author(s): Raulus, Helena

Number of pages: 19

Extract:

10. The Charter of Fundamental Rights
as a set of constitutional principles
Helena Raulus

1. INTRODUCTION

Hopes and fears can be said to have been characterizing the process of
adopting the binding EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.1 Hopes reflected
the potential of the Charter to `serve as a federalizing force' for the Union,2
setting a Union-wide, coherent constitutional framework.3 Member States
could be described as being wary of this outcome. Even though the Charter
of Fundamental Rights was adopted, solemnly declared and recognized as
a set of Union rights and principles in 2000,4 its legally binding status has
been the subject of constant negotiations until the adoption of the Treaty
of Lisbon.
Originally, the Charter already specified in Article 51 that it is to be
applied mainly to the Union Institutions, agencies and bodies and to the
Member States only when they are implementing Union legislation. In
the Constitutional Treaty5 the Charter was included in the Treaty itself. In



1
OJ 2010/C83/p. 389 ff.
2
Douglas-Scott, S. (2004), `The Charter of Fundamental Rights as a Constitu-
tional Document', European Human Rights Law Review, 1, 37­50, at p. 37.
3
See also for early writings, Lenaerts, K. (2000), `Respect for Fundamental
Rights as a Constitutional Principle of the European Union', Columbia Journal of
European Law, 6, 1­25, and von Bogdandy, A. (2000), `The European Union as a
Human Rights Organization? Human Rights and the Core of the European
Union', Common Market ...