EIRP Proceedings, Vol 7 (2012)

Abstract

Abstract: Having in mind the EU’s policy to rebuild the democratic systems within the former European communist countries and its involvement in international actions regarding human rights enforcement, there is no doubt about the importance of individuals rights protection within the European Union’s legal system. In this respect, the present paper analyzes the evolution of the principle of EU’s human rights protection. The research done on the EU legislation and courts jurisprudence shows that there are three main stages related to the EU evolution of human rights protection: first – the rejection, by the ECJ, of human rights principle as part of Community law; second - its acceptance, recognition and protection by the EU’s judges; third - the regulation and monitoring of the fundamental rights and freedoms at the European level. Based mainly on the ECJ jurisprudence, the paper tries to answer the following questions: What was the political motivation not to explicitly protect human rights through the constituent treaties? What was the contribution of ECJ to remedy this situation? How the European acquis was developed in order to guarantee the principle of fundamental rights? What is the current state of EU legislation for guaranteeing human rights within the European legal order?