Fields of application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and constitutional dialogues in the European Union

Abstract

This article is an extended version of a speech delivered during the Conference on Judicial Cooperation Techniques for the Protection of European Fundamental Rights: Past and Future Prospectives held in EUI on 9-10 May 2014. It deals with the possibility of maintaining coexisting national and Charter standards of fundamental rights and with the importance of cooperation between the ECJ and the national courts when fundamental rights protection is at stake. In this article, possible approaches to the relation between the constitutional and Charter standards of fundamental rights are discussed, and the implications of the approach adopted by the ECJ are examined. Furthermore, the current and potential importance of the constitutional identity of the Member States is analyzed.