“Getting the Future Right – Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Rights”. A view from the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights

This article analyses the attitude of the French “public law” courts towards the basic EU law principles. It is argued that though the Conseil d’Etat has, in the past, been reluctant to welcome the principle of supremacy, the recent jurisprudence demonstrates that it has drastically changed its stance and seeks, instead, appeasement and judicial dialogue with the ECJ. The Conseil constitutionnel with its doctrine of “reserve de constitutionnalite” has clearly influenced the administrative courts. As to the general principles of Community law, it appears that though administrative case law has now clearly recognised their reception in matters falling within the scope of Community law, the Council of State is disinclined to accept their spill-over within purely internal matters.

EU Law Principles in French Public Law: Un Accueil Réservé

The outbreak of the financial and economic crisis in 2008 had a severe impact on the member states of the European Union. Countries like Greece had to ask the Troika (the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund) for financial aid. In return, they were obliged to reduce public spending and, as a result, national social security systems were drastically reformed. Furthermore, the EU has exercised its competences to supervise national budgets more extensively, even for countries not applying for financial aid through the Country Specific Recommendations under the European Semester. Like the decisions providing financial support, these recommendations also touch upon member states' social security systems. Moreover, the actions of the EU seem to generate a tension between the social rights provisions in (inter)national human rights instruments and the EU economic monitoring process, hence creating a possible deficit at the level of the EU. The five collective complaints against Greece under the framework of the European Social Charter (Council of Europe) illustrate this tension. This Article investigates this tension further and provides insights in possible ways to close the gap between (inter)national social rights provisions and the EU economic monitoring process by looking at the right to social security in the EU legal order. In doing so, this Article scrutinizes the judicial safeguards available at EU level, namely the right to social security in the Charter of Fundamental Rights (CFEU) and the role of general principles of Union's law for the protection of fundamental rights. It will become clear that a lot of uncertainty still remains regarding the content and scope of the right to social security in the CFEU, as well as the enforceability of this provision in the EU economic monitoring process.

E. De Becker

Papers

The (Possible) Role of the Right to Social Security in the EU Economic Monitoring Process