The procedural necessity of the accession of the European Union to the ECHR: A pending issue after the opinion 2/13 of the ECJ.

Abstract

By means of the Opinion 2/13, the ECJ has paralysed the EU accession to the European Convention on Human Rights. The reason for this was that the ECJ considered the Draft Agreement to the Accession as incompatible with the provisions of the EU Treaties. While waiting for the reopening of the negotiations in order to adapt the International Agreement to the requests of Luxembourg, this paper examines the necessity of the ratification of the Convention by the EU as a means of being entirely subject to the ECtHR’s jurisdiction as well as providing to individuals with a last resort to protect their fundamental rights within the legal framework of the European Union.