Human Dignity in the EU

Abstract

The concept of human dignity in the European Union (EU) faces specific challenges. First, there is a severe potential for legal conflicts with the concepts of human dignity in the Member States (which are quite diverse) because EU law takes precedent over national laws, even national constitutions. Second, there is need for reconciling the EU concept with the concept of human dignity in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), especially in the new policy areas of the EU, like asylum and penal law concerning the conditions of detention or the preconditions for expulsion. Basically, the EU is equipped with a comprehensive set of rules on human dignity. However, a closer analysis shows that both EU legislation and jurisprudence are following mostly in the paths of the approach taken by the ECHR.