19/03/2010 Legal Affairs and Human Rights | European Convention on Human Rights
Strasbourg, 18.03.2010 – The EU should accede to the European Convention on Human Rights “within a couple of years”, with negotiations beginning no later than July this year, a Vice-Chair of PACE’s Legal Affairs Committee has told a European Parliament hearing in Brussels.
Serhiy Holovaty (Ukraine, ALDE) said the urgency for accession became greater as the Union took on more and more of the powers that had traditionally belonged to its 27 member states. It was necessary to put right the “artificiality” of the present situation, in which the victim of a contested EU act had no guarantee of remedy from the EU as it was a third party and not part of the Convention system.
The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg should continue to have primary responsibility for ensuring respect for the European Convention on Human Rights within the EU area, applying the Charter of Fundamental Rights, whereas the Strasbourg Court would act only as “an external restraint and check on EU activities”, he said.