Financial assistance conditionality and human rights protection: What is the role of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights?

Abstract

EU institutions are deeply involved in the making of European financial assistance conditionality. Nevertheless, mechanisms providing financial assistance to Eurozone States are still regarded as foreign to the EU legal order. This paper assesses financial assistance conditionality as applied by the European Financial Stability Facility and the European Stability Mechanism to Eurozone States from an EU human rights perspective. First, the hybrid nature of European financial assistance is illustrated through a series of institutional and substantive links between the international and the EU legal order. Second, the relative responsibility of European institutions under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights is addressed. To what extent are the major European actors bound by the human rights of the Charter when preparing financial assistance conditions? Third, the question is tackled whether Member States implementing financial assistance conditions are bound by the Charter.