Press Release: European Commission and Council of Europe kick off joint talks on EU’s accession to the Convention on Human Rights

Official talks started on 7 July 2010 on the European Union's accession to the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). Thorbjørn Jagland, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, and Viviane Reding, Vice-President of the European Commission, marked the beginning of this joint process at a meeting in Strasbourg. They discussed how to move the process forward so that citizens can swiftly benefit from stronger and more coherent fundamental rights protection in Europe.