New Challenges for Pluralist Adjudication after Lisbon: The Protection of Fundamental Rights in a Ius Commune Europaeum

Abstract

With the introduction of a legally binding Charter of Fundamental Rights and the envisaged accession of the European Union (EU) to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR), the Treaty of Lisbon significantly affects the legal system for the protection of fundamental rights in Europe. It is argued that those innovations reinforce the integration between different legal suborders at the national, European Union and pan-European level into a common constitutional space. Simultaneously, it creates new challenges for pluralist adjudication on the part of the national constitutional courts, the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights. Arguably, the ambiguous scope of application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the uncertain implications of EU membership to the ECHR and the increasing overlap between national and European fundamental rights complicate the protection of human rights in the European legal order.