Supervisors info:
Εμμανουήλ Περάκης, Επίκουρος Καθηγητής, Νομική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Μεταξία Κουσκουνα, Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια, Νομική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Ρεβέκκα - Εμμανουέλα Παπαδοπούλου, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια, Νομική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
The protection of fundamental rights constitutes a value of the EU legal order of equal significance with the other EU principles, values and objectives, as laid down in the text of the Treaties and as interpreted by the CJEU. Among them, special reference has to be made to the EU objective of establishing an internal market and of a common Area of Freedom, Security and Justice. Despite the fact that within the EU, a sui generis international legal order of autonomous nature which enjoys primacy over national law in the fields of its conferred competences, all its principles and values have the character of primary law and are to be respected equally, quite often those principles contradict and it is then when the CJEU, as the guardian of the uniform application of EU law, needs to interpret them properly and find the most suitable and effective way to balance them.
This dissertation aims to examine the balance between the EU law primacy and its expressions, such as the need for uniform application of EU law which pressuposes the mutual trust between the Member States, with the fundamental rights protection principles. In the first part, this balance will be examined in the light of a landmark judgment of the CJEU, the one in Melloni case, and in relation to the fields of law that have been fully integrated so far. The judgment will be discussed in depth from the aspect of the concerned national court , the opinion of the AG and most of all from the sight of the CJEU. Furthermore, it will be examined how a possible accession of the EU to the ECHR would affect this balance, in the light of Opinion 2/13 of the CJEU. Finally, the so-called counter-limits doctrine will be observed, as the instrument to handle the conflicts between EU and national constitutional principles of the protection of fundamental rights.
The second part will focus to the areas of law that have a connection with the EU legal order but however, they are not, at least until the present day, totally harmonized by EU law. In that respect, the Fransson Akerberg judgment will be analyzed, as the one that clarified the scope of the EU Charter of Fundamental rights. Secondly, the subject-matter of the dissertation will be discussed in the framework of the so-called Taricco saga, which can be considered as the continuation of the Melloni saga. Again, the constitutional principles and the national identity of the Member States in regard of the fundamental rights protection will complement the findings of the CJEU.
In the end, some personal comments and thoughts will be expressed concerning the future of fundamental rights protection within the EU legal order.
Keywords:
EU, principle of primacy, fundamental rights, Melloni judgment, Taricco judgment, mutual trust, AFSJ, mutual recognition of judgments, internal market, CJEU,
