A common tutelage” “” “

ERA is the Academy of European Law (http://www.era.int), founded in Trier (Germany) in 1992 with the aim of providing legal practitioners (lawyers, judges, jurists and students of law) with training able to guarantee the correct interpretation and application of European law. Ever since 1990, the European Commission, on the recommendation of Parliament, had committed itself to investing resources in a centre for the preparation of jurists to keep abreast of the developments in the process of European integration, but the first proposal for the creation of a specific Academy that would satisfy this need came from Peter Caesar, Minister of Justice of Rhineland-Palatinate and from two MEPs, Horst Langes and Willi Rothley. The Academy opened a library specialized in European law that contains publications on all the sectors of Community law, though without neglecting the national perspective. In 1999 the library became a Centre of European Documentation and ever since then has received all the publications of the EU in French, English and German. The Academy also holds conferences, like that planned to be held in Trier on 15-16 September on “Europe: obstacle or opportunity for the economy?”. “European Union states may have to accept an erosion of some civil liberties if their citizens are to be protected from organised crime and terrorism”, declared Charles Clarke, the British Interior Minister and current chairman of the EU Justice Ministers’ Council, in a speech to the European Parliament on 7 September. Recent terrorist attacks have sparked a lively debate across Europe on whether individual rights and freedoms may be compromised for the sake of the common good. Yet as participants at the 3rd European Jurists’ Forum in Geneva on 7-9 September learned, behind this debate lies a more complex question of who protects Europeans’ fundamental rights and how. Basic freedoms are often guaranteed in national constitutions. At continental level the European Convention on Human Rights is frequently used to uphold the rights of the individual over the power of the state. And the EU has its own Charter of Fundamental Rights, though the demise of the European Constitution means that it is not yet fully binding. These various layers offer Europeans a degree of human rights protection denied to most of their fellow human beings around the world. But they can also lead to confusion. Which court has the authority to decide which rights can be claimed by a given individual? And then to which higher court can that individual appeal? And what should happen if conflicts emerge between rights defined at national, EU or pan-European levels? The heads of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, Luzius Wildhaber and Vassilios Skouris, reassured the Jurists’ Forum that there was no reason for friction between their institutions in this respect. It is not difficult to imagine a problem arising, though, when one day the Luxembourg court – long the highest court within the EU – has to judge fundamental rights cases. By then the EU may well have joined the European Convention on Human Rights, so if the plaintiff objects to the judgement, he or she may still appeal to Strasbourg – and the Luxembourg judges will have to get used to deferring to an even higher judicial authority. Do we need all these different sources and layers of fundamental rights protection? As long as Europe remains a complex political entity that respects both diversity and common values, the answer is yes. This multiplicity allows different cultural traditions to emphasise different rights and freedoms, whilst reinforcing common values such as freedom of conscience and religion, which is more strongly protected in Europe than in almost any other part of the world. So protection of fundamental rights needs to be co-ordinated but its multiplicity maintained. Without co-ordination, regional variations and conflicting jurisdictions will chip away at the rights of all Europeans. On the other hand, sharing the responsibility for fundamental rights between different courts and sources of law ensures that hard-won rights cannot be easily eroded. For, as Britain’s Mr Clarke recognised in the European Parliament, the balance between freedom and security in Europe today cannot be determined by a single government but requires a debate involving all those responsible for Europe’s common heritage of fundamental rights. John Coughlan Era – Academy of European law