Economic integration of the European Union is based on the execution of Treaty guaranteed fundamental economic freedoms, which needs to be balanced with social, political and other interests. Master thesis deals with the analysis of the European Court of Justice’s case law that has profoundly shaped the balance between the fundamental rights and fundamental economic freedoms. The analysis of the following cases Schmidberger, Omega, Viking Lane and Laval clearly indicates the lack of unified approach regarding conflict resolution between fundamental rights and economic freedoms as well as the non-uniform application of the principle of proportionality. The Treaty of Lisbon represents the pinnacle of the protection of fundamental rights in the European Union while simultaneously grants the European Charter of the Fundamental Rights the validity of primary law and enables the accession of the EU to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. It seems that despite all the effort, the existing balance between fundamental rights and fundamental economic freedoms will not change significantly. EU Charter of Fundamental Rights seems to reinforce the legitimacy of the EU. In the case of the accession of the EU to the ECHR it is impossible to expect efficient supervision by the European Court of Human Rights over the European Court of Justice’s decisions.
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