The impact of the charter of fundamental rights: The case of the returns directive

This chapter assess the claim that the introduction of the Charter has led to the Court of Justice acting more as a human rights court by assessing a number of judgments of the Returns Directive before and after the Treaty of Lisbon. The language of fundamental rights has provided the Court with the normative resources to deploy an approach which addresses issues of vulnerability in a more open and effective manner. The classic interpretative strategies of the Court of Justice leave little room for considerations of the needs of individuals, who, while occupying a prominent place in the Union’s legal order, are frequently instrumentalised in the process. Interpretive tools are malleable, perhaps none more so than teleological and effectiveness-based ones, and can be deployed to secure a variety of ends. The language of effectiveness, primacy and unity of Union law remain central to the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice and at times resurface in direct tension with fundamental rights.