Strasbourg Observers

View posts from: Copenhagen Declaration

  • Guest Blogger

The final Copenhagen Declaration: fundamentally improved with a few remaining caveats

April 18, 2018

By Janneke Gerards (professor of fundamental rights law, Utrecht University) and Sarah Lambrecht (researcher, Research Group Government and Law, UAntwerp and law clerk at the Belgian Constitutional Court[1]) At the High Level Conference meeting in Copenhagen on 12 and 13 April 2018 under the Danish Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of […]

  • Guest Blogger

Undue political pressure is not dialogue: The draft Copenhagen Declaration and its potential repercussions on the Court’s independence

March 02, 2018

By Sarah Lambrecht, researcher, Research Group Government and Law, UAntwerp and law clerk at the Belgian Constitutional Court[1]  The Danish Government wishes to initiate a renewed discussion on the future of the European Convention on Human Rights system­, as one of its priorities of the Danish Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council […]

  • Guest Blogger

The Draft Copenhagen Declaration – What About Civil Society?

March 01, 2018

By Antoine Buyse, professor of human rights from a multidisciplinary perspective, Utrecht University The very existence of this critical comment series on the draft Copenhagen Declaration of the Danish chairmanship of the Council of Europe shows that the recent publication of the draft was enough to elicit a stream of responses. This possibility for open […]

  • Guest Blogger

The draft Copenhagen Declaration and the Court’s dual role – the need for a different definition of subsidiarity and the margin of appreciation

February 28, 2018

By Janneke Gerards, Professor of fundamental rights law, Utrecht University, the Netherlands The double-faced role of the Court One of the recurring topics in all High Level Declarations is the role the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR or Court) should play in protecting the Convention rights. Article 32 of the Convention stipulates that the […]

  • Guest Blogger

The Draft Copenhagen Declaration – Process-based review and subsidiarity

February 27, 2018

By Leonie Huijbers (PhD Candidate, Utrecht University, the Netherlands) With the publication of the list of priorities for the Danish Chairmanship in November 2017, it became publicly clear that the Danes would push for yet another debate on the future of the Convention system. According to the Danish Chairmanship, such a debate is needed because […]

  • Guest Blogger

The Draft Copenhagen Declaration: ‘New Ways’ to ensure a ‘Strengthened Dialogue’?

February 26, 2018

By Lize R. Glas, assistant professor of European law, Radboud University When making public its priorities for its chairmanship on 13 November 2017, Denmark already announced that finding ‘new ways’ to ensure a ‘strengthened dialogue’ between the states parties, domestic courts and the Court would be a ‘key objective’. As could be expected therefore, the […]

  • Guest Blogger

Blog Seminar: The Draft Copenhagen Declaration – Food for Thought

February 25, 2018

By Janneke Gerards (professor of fundamental rights law, Utrecht University, the Netherlands) & Sarah Lambrecht (affiliated researcher, Research Group Government and Law, UAntwerp, Belgium and law clerk at the Belgian Constitutional Court) It is a well-known fact that the ECHR system of fundamental rights protection is almost continually under construction. Since the major overhaul of […]