The judicial dialogue between the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights

Abstract

Despite the evolution, recognizing fundamental rights on a case-by-case basis, the CJEU failed, however, to develop a complete system of fundamental rights protection, covering all areas of Community law and, subsequently, EU actions. Furthermore, due to the lack of specific references to fundamental rights in EU law, EU citizens have continued to rely on the protection system provided by the CEDO. On the other hand, the CEDO referred less often to the jurisprudence of the CJEU, which was not totally unexpected. In fact, the CEDO's citation of CJEU judgments did not result from a need to legitimize its own jurisprudence in relation to the contracting states. In the case of the CEDO, it rather proved that there is a consensus at the European level that could justify either a reversal of the jurisprudence or an evolutionary interpretation of a right guaranteed by the Convention.