The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights

Although still very much in its infancy, the passage of time since the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (CFR) was given legal effect means that it is now possible to assess its impact and to make some nuanced, if tentative, predictions regarding its future. This chapter will begin by providing an overview of the CFR’s place in the EU’s acquis, charting its development from a fledgling bill of rights to an instrument imbued with full constitutional force. The CFR’s (intentional and incidental) consequences for labour law will be considered as will its capacity as a deconstructive force in relation to the pre-existing hierarchy of rights by which it offers the potential for greater integration and realisation of the full range of rights and corresponding enhancement of social rights’ status. Key to this potential development is the CJEU’s interpretive function by which it has the opportunity to use the CFR as a catalyst for the further integration and extension of social rights. The chapter will conclude with an analysis of the Court’s interpretation of the CFR’s provisions to date.