Andrea Butašová – Daniel Šváby

The protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms within the European area - the area of the legal system created by the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and by law of European Communities and the European Union has recently experienced some significant changes. This paper reflects on the dynamic development of the human rights protection in Europe and analyses the functioning of the system of the Convention in the framework of the Council of Europe. It also focuses on the development and trends in the area of the protection of fundamental rights on the Community level. The judicial decisions of the European Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Justice concerning the fundamental rights show that even though the system of the Convention and Community system are autonomous, they interfere with each other. The level of their mutual dependency rises continuously, which increases the danger of inconsistent approach in both systems. The influence of the Strasbourg and the Luxembourg courts for the protection of human rights in the European area is not identical as a result of different objectives of the Council of Europe and those of the European Communities. In spite of this, the judicial decisions of both courts imply the shift towards coherent and efficient protection of fundamental rights in Europe and thereby the unity of the European public order of human rights. However, the securing mechanisms at the European level work only on the basis of subsidiarity, therefore the paramount task of providing effective guarantees for human rights granted by the Convention and the Community law belongs to national courts. According to the established practice of the Constitutional court of the Slovak Republic based on the Constitution of the SR, the fundamental rights and freedoms should be read (and interpreted) in terms and spirit of international agreements on human rights. Accordingly, they should be interpreted also in terms of the Convention, to which the Slovak Republic is the party. In the event that the national law falls under the scope and competence of the Community law, the national judge shall take heed to interpret and apply the national law also in compliance with the Community requirements for the protection of fundamental rights.