When the EU funds meet the Charter of Fundamental Rights: on the applicability of the Charter of Fundamental Rights to EU funds implemented at the national level

Abstract

When does the Charter apply to Member States implementing EU Funds? This is the core question addressed by this article following the Poclava judgement, whereby the Court of Justice of the European Union (the CJEU) held, for the first time, that the mere finding that a national social policy is supported by EU funds is not in itself sufficient to trigger the applicability of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU (the Charter). The judgement is important as it suggests that the Charter does not apply to all Member States’ acts co-funded from EU budgetary resources. Against this background, this contribution sheds lights on situations where the Charter applies to operations implementing EU Funds at the national level departing from a close reading of CJEU case law. Subsequently, the article explains why the finding that the Charter does not apply to all EU funded actions at national level is not satisfactory and advocates for an active Charter promotion in response.