A Few Words on Drittwirkung, Transparency and Personal Integrity in the Light of Digitalization

Abstract

This article analyses the three topics listed in the headline in that order, and it subsequently identifies and discusses a common thread between them. The fact that they have all been affected by the enactment of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (CFR), of which they belong to the core area, is very crucial here, and so is the interplay or interaction between the European Courts and leading national courts, not least in the constitutional area. Cases such as Melloni, from 2013, have shown the problems that may occur should the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) not respect fundamental rights and national constitutional values. If the CJEU wants to maintain its key role in the future structure of EU law, it needs to show that it cares about fundamental rights and that it wants to work together, not against the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and national courts. The three concepts discussed in this article, all strengthened by the Charter, have so far been most helpful in this process – and may become even more important in the future.