The present article answers some questions regarding the impact and the role of the fundamental rights enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (the “Charter”) in the legal orders of the Member States. To that end, it explores in three steps the way in which the Charter is applied in the Member States. First, it explores the question of competences, by examining the way in which EU law a...

This paper examines the direct horizontal effect of the provisions of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (hereinafter “the Charter”), the indirect extraterritorial application of the Charter’s provisions across borders of the European Union and an atypical application of the Charter in a recent case brought before the Court of Justice of the European Union (hereinafter “CJEU”), namely Privacy International. In t...

The concept of the essence of a fundamental right – set out in Article 52(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (the „Charter”) – operates as a constant reminder that our core values as Europeans are absolute. In other words, they are not up for balancing. As the seminal judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (the „CJEU”) in Schrems shows, where a measure imposes a limitation on the exercise o...

The text explores the highly influential role that the European Convention on Human Rights, as interpreted by the European Court of Human Rights, has played, and continues to play, in the EU legal order. In so doing, it is stressed the fact that the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, despite its relative youth, has, in turn, influenced the interpretation of the Convention. That mutual influence has the potential to...