Fundamental rights protection in the EU post Lisbon Treaty

The 1957 treaty establishing the European Economic Community
(EEC) has long been silent on the protection of fundamental rights within the legal order of the community. Although it did refer to
the principle of non-discrimination on the basis of nationality and some workers’ rights, the treaty lacked a proper bill of rights.
It has been suggested that the idea of including a comprehensive bill of rights was rejected on the grounds that this may be wrongly construed as an undue extension of the powers of the EEC when its primary goal was the attainment of economic integration by
establishing a common market. Furthermore, another organisation was already in charge of protecting fundamental rights in
Europe: the Council of Europe, founded in 1949.

This paper was used as the main source for a report by the French Cour de Cessation on the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (Veille bimestrielle de droit europeen, October 2010, no. 34.