Unpacking deference in EU fundamental rights law, Dr Francesco De Cecco

Deference refers to the practice whereby courts adapt (i.e. loosen) standards of review depending on the nature and/or institutional matrix of the act under review. The concept has attracted a vast literature in the common law world which has, in turn, inspired attempts to apply its central features to the context of EU fundamental rights. These constructions rest on layers of analytical and normative assumptions which this paper seeks to unpack, as a first step towards an alternative account of deference in the EU's constitutional space.

About the Speaker

Dr Francesco De Cecco's work on fundamental human rights in EU law seeks to identify interpretive parameters that enable pluralism to flourish without undermining either integration or the foundational values of the EU. In this work, he tries to elucidate some puzzling features of the law in this connection. He has examined, in particular: the role of EU fundamental rights review where Member States pursue higher regulatory standards than those set by EU ‘minimum harmonisation’; the significance and implications of the claim that free movement rights are ‘fundamental’; and, more recently, the meaning and purpose of the doctrine of the ‘essence’ of fundamental rights. Drawing on, and expanding, the latter theme, his current research explores the constitutional implications of an illiberal-nativist turn in European mainstream politics.