Reasons for constitutionalization: non-discrimination, minority rights and social rights in the Convention on the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights

This article analyses proposals regarding non-discrimination, minority rights and social rights as discussed in the Convention on the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. The article first develops a typology of arguments supporting the institutionalization of human rights on the EU level: the salience of institutionalizing a specific norm on the EU level, because the integration process undermines domestic human rights provisions unless they are also secured by the EU; the internal coherence of the norm with existing EU rules; and the external coherence of the norm with international human rights instruments. The empirical sections establish to what extent these types of arguments play an important role in the argumentation process within the Charter Convention, and whether propositions justified on the basis of these arguments are successful, i.e. find their reflection in successive drafts and the final Charter text.