Human Rights ‘Conditionality’ in Relation to Entry to, and Full Participation in, the EU

Abstract

Abstract The promotion and protection of human rights does not figure among the objectives of the European Union (EU) as listed in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU). Nevertheless, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) during the last thirty years developed jurisprudence which established that measures adopted by the institutions of the three European Communities, as well as measures adopted by Member States either to implement Community measures or which, in one way or another, fall within the scope of Community law, must be in accordance with minimum human rights standards. Although the EU neither adopted its own Bill of Human Rights nor acceded to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the ECJ developed its human rights jurisprudence on the understanding that basic human rights, as guaranteed by the ECHR and as they result from the constitutional traditions common to the Member States, are general principles of Community law.