Research Papers

There is currently very little comparative political science research on the human rights institutions and policies of the Council of Europe and the European Union. This limited research can be attributed to the following. First, political scientists have left the study of the European Convention on Human Rights (Convention) and its European Court of Human Rights to lawyers and jurists on the grounds that they have the greater expertise. Second, the increasing and more controversial impact of economic integration on within the EU has solicited greater interest among political scientists. However, the EU's continued attempts to develop its own constitutional sources of legitimacy, and the European Court of Justice’s use of the Convention in its own legal reasoning have already raised questions as to who - Luxembourg, Strasbourg, Vienna - is best placed to protect rights in Europe. Furthermore, the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force on 1 December 2009, and additional Protocol No.14 to the Convention entered into force on 1 June 2010. These treaties pave way for the EU's future accession to the Convention, such that it would be bound by the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. This paper examines the implications of the EU's accession to the Convention on the Council of Europe and its institutions. Accordingly, it explores such questions as how the Council of Europe's intergovernmental Committee of Ministers, composed of EU Member States, would ensure the EU complies with the European Court of Human Rights' judgments.