A ‘decisive’ breakthrough has been made in the 33-month-long negotiations on how the EU is to accede to the European Convention on Human Rights.

Negotiators for the EU and for the 47 Council of Europe signatories to the convention finalised a draft accession agreement on 5 April.

This will bring EU laws under the jurisdiction of Europe’s human rights court in Strasbourg. Accession is required by the Lisbon treaty, which came into force on 1 December 2009.

Thorbjorn Jagland, secretary general of the Council of Europe, said: ‘This is a decisive step.’

LinkedIn logo Join our LinkedIn Human Rights sub-group