A Union of Effective Judicial Protection: Addressing a Multi-level Challenge through the Lens of Article 47 CFREU

Summary:

This article explores the evolving EU standard of effective judicial protection under Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CFREU) and describes it as being composite, coherent, and autonomous. The standard is complex in that the different levels of EU law adjudication complement each other by the protection they respectively grant.

The standard must be coherent given that the fundamental right applied to and at the different levels of EU law adjudication is one and the same. Finally, the aspiration of an ever closer and deeper Union appears to call for an EU autonomous definition of what exactly constitutes effective legal protection in a shared legal order based on loyal cooperation and mutual trust. With the Court of Justice asserting competence to define the binding EU standard of protection, it may be expected to further clarify what constitutes the essence of effective judicial protection.

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