Aspects of Fundamental Rights Convergence in Europe with Some Comparative References to the Developments in Germany, United Kingdom and France

Abstract

In the field of Fundamental Rights a process of convergence is going on in Europe. There are three protection levels which are autonomous but functionally interconnected: the national constitutions, the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) and, for the member states of the European Union, the EU Fundamental Rights Charter. A total convergence comes into effect when the EU Charter applies in the member states, alternatively to the national Constitution. The impact of the ECHR on the signatory states’ orders leads to a relative convergence by conceptual transfer. In Germany, the national fundamental rights have to be interpreted in the light of the ECHR independently from its internal rank equivalent to ordinary federal law. In UK the Human Rights Act has established a mechanism which effects the adaptation of legislation to the jurisprudence of the Strasbourg Human Rights Court. In France, Article 55 of the Constitution gives the ECHR primacy over internal legislation. The accession of the EU to the ECHR is not yet been realized but the influences of the Strasbourg jurisprudence are significant. The EU Charter has to be interpreted, in important parts, in the light of the ECHR. It seems justified to state that fundamental rights in Europe undergo a significant convergence process.