Eeckhout, Piet; Mantouvalou, Virginia --- "Accession of the EU to the ECHR: The permeative power of human rights" [2016] ELECD 1417; in Bogg, Alan; Costello, Cathryn; Davies, C.L. A. (eds), "Research Handbook on EU Labour Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2016) 174

Book Title: Research Handbook on EU Labour Law

Editor(s): Bogg, Alan; Costello, Cathryn; Davies, C.L. A.

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781783471119

Section: Chapter 8

Section Title: Accession of the EU to the ECHR: The permeative power of human rights

Author(s): Eeckhout, Piet; Mantouvalou, Virginia

Number of pages: 17

Abstract/Description:

The idea of the constitutionalisation of labour law has been a trend in recent scholarship. In this chapter, the constitutionalisation of labour law refers to the view that some labour rights are to be protected as fundamental human rights. Morally, human rights are stringent entitlements that resist trade-offs when they conflict with other considerations. In law, human rights usually have a special status, higher than ordinary legislation, and constitute standards against which state and private action are assessed. The tendency towards constitutionalisation is evident both at national and supranational levels. At European level, which is our focus, evidence of the constitutionalisation of labour rights is found in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (EUCFR). At Council of Europe level, it is found in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the European Social Charter (ESC), with all the relevant materials of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR). In addition, EU law now provides that the EU must accede to the ECHR. All member states of the EU are already signatories of the ECHR, but the EU and its institutions cannot be directly challenged in Strasbourg. Accession is about subjecting the EU and its institutions to external control by the ECtHR, as to respect for Convention rights. Over 20 years ago, in 1994, the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) issued an opinion on accession that stated that the EU had no competence to accede to the ECHR.