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Rights and Principles in EU Law: A Distinction without Foundation?

Both rights and principles have long existed in EU law. The Charter of Fundamental Rights - made newly binding by the Lisbon Treaty – attempts to draw a distinction between the two types of norm. This article explores in depth the question of whether such a differentiation can easily be made, drawing from both the literature on rights and the Charter, and that on principles (particularly environmental principles). It examines a range of ways in which rights and principles might be thought to differ – including in terms of autonomy, whether they are single- or double-sided in scope, their legal impacts (binding or non-binding), forms of accountability (legal or political), and their jurisprudential nature. Having found that similarities abound rather more than differences, the article concludes by arguing that the weight placed on the distinction by the Charter is untenable.