The Past, Present, and Future of European Inter-State Disputes A Modest Proposal for Reconciling Inter-State Cases in the Context of EU Accession to the ECHR

The last few decades have seen a rise in inter-State cases before the international/ supranational European courts, i.e., the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union, respectively. This article therefore examines why this particular procedure is challenging for both courts, especially due to potential overlaps in State actors/respondents as well as substantive questions in light of the EU's planned accession to the ECHR. The EU's tight jurisdictional corset found in Article 344 TFEU will, in particular, prove to be a considerable issue here. Lastly, possible solutions to these problems will be presented for a future scenario after the Union's accession to the ECHR, when it will be formally bound by the ECHR and the judgments of the ECtHR.