The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights as a Binding Instrument Five Years Old and Growing

The entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon in 2009 caused the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights to be granted binding effect. This raised a host of intriguing questions. Would this transform the EU's commitment to fundamental rights? Should it transform that commitment? How, if at all, can we balance competing rights and principles? (The interaction of the social and the economic spheres offers a particular challenge). How deeply does the EU conception of fundamental rights reach into and bind national law and practice? How deeply does it affect private parties? How much flexibility has been left to the Court in making these interpretative choices? What is the likely effect of another of the reforms achieved by the Lisbon Treaty, the commitment of the EU to accede to the ECHR? This book addresses all of these questions in the light of five years of practice under the Charter as a binding instrument.

Sybe de Vries is Professor of EU Single Market Law and Fundamental Rights and the Jean Monnet Chair at the Europa Institute of Utrecht University.Ulf Bernitz is Professor of European Law at Stockholm University, director of the Stockhom Institute of European Law and director of the Oxford/Stockholm Venture in European Law.Stephen Weatherill is Professor of European Law at the University of Oxford, a Fellow of Somerville College and Deputy Director for European Law in the Oxford Law Faculty's Institute of European and Comparative Law.