The influence of EU law on Strasbourg doctrines

Abstract

This article identifies four distinct areas of EU law influence on the ECtHR's doctrines: references for informational purposes; references to support an autonomous interpretation; legal transplants; and references in the context of evolutive interpretation. EU law is relevant for both the determination of the scope of Convention rights and for the ECtHR's proportionality analysis, but EU law influence is not confined to the case law of the CJEU. It includes the full spectrum of EU legal materials. While it welcomes the ECtHR's engagement with developments at EU level, the article expresses a normative critique that is underpinned by a concern that the ECtHR's reasoning is often lacking in clarity and exposition of argument.