Articles

• Martinico, Giuseppe

Abstract

<sec><st>Abstract</st> <it>The aim of this article is to answer the question, ‘are national judges extending the structural EU law principles (primacy and direct effect) to the European Convention on Human Rights’? This article does not intend to examine the broader issue of the </it>rapprochement <it>between the legal systems of the EU and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) but it concentrates on how national judges treat the norms of the ECHR compared with their treatment of EU law. I have structured this article in three parts. The first part offers a first look at the ‘constitutional variety’ existing in terms of constitutional provisions devoted to the impact of the ECHR and EU laws on the national systems. In the second part I will move to analyse the relevant case law of the domestic judges on three factors of potential convergence: consistent interpretation, disapplication of national law conflicting with European provisions, and emergence of a counter-limits doctrine. Finally, in the third part I will offer some concluding remarks on the convergence issue.</it> </sec>