”New” and ”Existing” Rights in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union

Abstract

Considered a fundamental document, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union aims to bring together all the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights that citizens and residents of the Community can enjoy in order to outline the EU’s obligation to respect these fundamental rights. Thus, from the perspective of the content of the Charter, civil and political rights can be understood as those rights necessary for the assertion of the individual and defined by the action of their holder[1] and in contrast are the economic, social and cultural rights that can be understood as those rights recognized to individuals, in their capacity as members of certain social categories. Through its content, the Charter reaffirms the rights that arise from the content of national constitutions and international obligations, common to the Member States. Thus, these rights stand out as a foundation that is built on the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, on the Social Charters adopted by the EU, on the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights. In this context, it should be noted that the Charter is the first normative act that manages to codify in a single document, the main civil, political, economic and social rights[2], enshrined in previous Community Treaties. Under the auspices of the Charter, we will try to point out the innovative aspect that this document enjoys as a legal instrument for the protection of fundamental human rights.