The Sting is Always in the Tail. The Personal Scope of Application of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights

Abstract

The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (‘the Charter’) is an impressive document. It lists numerous fundamental rights and freedoms in a clear and ‘robust’ way. It brings together for the first time, in a single document, classical human rights, social and economic rights, as well as rights and freedoms already known from the EC/EU Treaties (free movement, non-discrimination, EU citizenship rights, etc.). These rights are, moreover, classified and organized in a new and quite original fashion – six Chapters, dealing with Dignity, Freedoms, Equality, Solidarity, Citizens’ Rights, Justice. Limitations and exceptions to the rights and freedoms set out in these first six parts of the Charter are almost non-existent. The claim that the Charter indeed makes fundamental rights more ‘visible’ to the citizens of the Union (after enlargement to the East some 480 million people) is thus not without foundation.