The application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights in EU staff law
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The application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights in EU staff law Kieran Bradley
© ERA 2015
Abstract The fundamental rights of EU staff members have been protected since long before the Charter was adopted. Since it acquired Treaty status in 2009, the Charter has nonetheless become the first point of reference in this area for the Union Courts, and it has been relied on in assessing the validity of and interpreting both normative measures and individual decisions. In particular, the Charter has been instrumental in defining substantive rights of staff members, such as the protection of family life or the right to just and fair working conditions, and procedural rights in administrative and judicial proceedings. It has thus contributed to raising the level of fundamental rights protection in EU law, including that governing the relations between institutional employers and their staff. Keywords EU staff law · EU Charter of Fundamental Rights · Civil Service Tribunal · Private and family life · Protection of personal data · Protection from discrimination · Fair and just working conditions · Paid annual leave · Right to be heard · Statement of reasons · Rule of correspondence
Text of a presentation at the seminar on ‘EU Staff Regulations in practice’ organised on 10 November 2014 by the Academy of European Law in Trier; the informal tone of the speech has been retained. Best thanks are due to Roberto Schiano for his comments and suggestions; responsibility for any errors is the author’s alone. The author is acting in a private capacity; the views expressed are purely personal, and do not prejudice any position the author may take as a judge. The author is the President of the Second Chamber of the EU Civil Service Tribunal.
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K. Bradley ( ) Court of Justice of the European Union, 2925 Luxembourg, Luxemburg e-mail: [email protected]
K. Bradley
1 Introduction Reflecting in July 2011 on human rights norms in the staff law of the European Union, Paul Mahoney, the then President of the Civil Service Tribunal (the Tribunal), and currently judge at the European Court of Human Rights, concluded that ‘the EU Charter has not . . . had a dramatic influence on the outcome of staff cases before the Tribunal or on [its] mode of jurisprudential reasoning’.1 Now, while I would not entirely disagree with that assessment, I would like to qualify it somewhat by saying that, given the origins of the rights set out in the Charter, perhaps its influence was not intended to be ‘dramatic’, but rather more subtle and long-term. In any case, in my view the influence of the Charter has built up over the years, to a point where at least we would miss it if it were no longer there.
2 Sources of EU staff law 2.1 Original sources The rights and obligations of the staff of the European Union—and of the institutions themselves—are set out in a variety of legal instruments at different levels. First and foremost there are the Treaties, which contain a number of important rules and principles. For the most part, these are of ge
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