Book Launch: The Horizontal Effect of Fundamental Rights in the European Union

In this event we will mark the publication of the book 'The Horizontal Effect of Fundamental Rights in the European Union' by Dr Eleni Frantziou (Assistant Professor in Public Law and Human Rights, University of Durham) at the UCL Faculty of Laws.

About the book

This book analyses the application of fundamental rights to disputes between private parties in the European Union (i.e. their 'horizontal effect'). It argues that EU case law both before and after the entry into force of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights has offered an unduly instrumental view of horizontality by continuing to associate this principle with the direct effect of EU law. This has resulted in a varying, case-by-case approach to the horizontal effect of fundamental rights over the years, which lacks constitutional coherence. This publication supports an alternative narrative: that horizontality should be recognised as a self-standing principle of EU fundamental rights adjudication, which functions as a safeguard of the equal enjoyment of formally equally attributed rights within the EU polity. It depends and is, in turn, limited by that equalising function.

Speakers

• Prof. Piet Eeckhout (UCL)

• Prof. Ronan McCrea (UCL) and

• Karon Monaghan QC (Matrix Chambers/UCL)

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