New Wine into Old Wineskins: The scope of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU after Åkerberg Fransson

In the Åkerberg Fransson judgment, the Court of Justice held that the Charter applies to every instance in which Member States’ obligations stemming from EU law can be identified. In accordance with the principle of effectiveness of EU law, this holds true regardless of how general or precise those obligations are and, therefore, regardless of the degree to which they determine Member States’ actions. Although it is clear that the Court chose to cast the "net" of EU fundamental rights protection widely, the judgment raises a number of questions. In particular, it remains unclear how, and according to which legal criteria, the Court will arbitrate a conflict between a fundamental right protected by the Charter and the principle of effectiveness in EU law.