This book assesses the impact of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights from four key perspectives. First, it posits the Charter within the framework of the ongoing debate on EU Constitutionalism, the proper parameters of Union and Member State power, and investigates the role of "rights" discourse in crafting the contours of a European patriotism. Second, it examines the effect of the Charter on a range of substantive areas of EU regulation, ranging from foundational and fundamental areas such as the economic freedoms, to fields of competence lying at the fringe of Community regulation. This is intended to provide a flavour of how the Charter might seep in to the process of substantive law making. Third, the book describes the impact of the Charter on the question of "Access to Justice" in the EU, a highly topical and important objective, given the current debate (and indeed friction) in the case law of the Community judicature, on how the judicial architecture might be amended to improve access to justice to private parties affected adversely by Union regulation.
Fourthly, the book takes an "external" lens in assessing the Charter, canvassing its relationship with the regime for protection of human rights supplied by the international plane, and examining the impact of the Charter on the process of accession of new Member States to the EU.