Triangulating the composite system for the protection of European fundamental rights: In the shadow of Article 6 TEU

Abstract

Whilst academic writings on EU fundamental rights traditionally focus on sources of protection enshrined in Article 6 TEU, this contribution is devoted to acts adopted on the basis of the EU Treaties. These may take the form of external agreements or legislative acts. The overall diffuse and permeable set of norms that characterizes the advanced legal system of the EEA constitutes a particularly fruitful laboratory to explore interactions between norms and actors in the field of European fundamental rights law. It will be emphasized that acts adopted on the basis of the EU Treaties are often at the junction between three legal systems: the national one, the EU or EEA one when these acts have been imported in EEA law, and the international legal system – in particular that of the ECHR. By looking beyond Article 6 TEU, and thus changing lens of analysis, one can look beyond questions of hierarchies of norms and/or between systems. It will be observed in this article that the role of EU political institutions in articulating various layers of norms remains underestimated and warrants further attention.