Some Progress on EU Accession to the ECHR

It seems that after months of internal talks within the EU some form of consensus has been reached on a common position which will finally allow negotiations with the non-EU ECHR state parties to resume. This is the conclusion of Stian Øby Johansen of the University of Oslo over at Multirights Blog, on the basis of a recent EU press release. His analysis (The EU's accession to the ECHR: negotiations to resume after 7 -month hiatus) gives a succinct and clear overview of the latest developments and challenges ahead. As he argues, "Though important steps remain before the EU can call itself a party to the ECHR, the major political decisions have already been taken. It is difficult to imagine a total breakdown of the accession process or substantial changes in the core elements of the Accession Agreement. However, the final leg may take a considerable amount of time."