The EU's Accession to the Convention on Human Rights: A New Era of Closer Cooperation between the Council of Europe and the EU?

Abstract

The sound development of EU criminal law depends on the adoption of human rights standards at EU level. The EU's accession to the Convention on Human Rights has been described as ‘mission impossible’ because of the number and complexity of issues to be negotiated. Yet the stakes are high and there is a political will to build a coherent human rights system at European level. The author argues that the working link between the European Union and the Council of Europe needs to be further strengthened and that a ‘Greater Europe’ criminal law/human rights regime will be made possible by the accession of the European Union to ECHR.