L’interpretazione della CEDU, tra universalismo, volontà degli Stati parte e indipendenza della Corte di Strasburgo : la lettera aperta del 22 maggio 2025

Abstract

On 22 May 2025 nine States Parties to the European Convention on Human Rights made public an “open letter” addressing the European Court of Human Rights, manifesting discontent concerning the way in which the obligations enshrined in the Convention are interpreted by it as excessively limiting their sovereign power to expel “foreign criminal national”. This contribution aims at clarifying, from an international legal perspective, the main legal issues raised by the letter and, in particular, the relationship between the role of the States Parties to the ECHR as “masters” of their treaty, on the one hand, and the independence and interpretative autonomy of the Court, on the other hand. The analysis concludes with three main findings; first, that the “open letter” is based on incorrect normative premises, since the Court’s case-law did not overstep the “original intentions” of the drafters of the Convention; second, that, from a normative point of view, it is incapable of reaching the intentions of the signatories States to reestablish the correct balance between the above interests; and third, that the letter might constitute, at least for some States and due to specific circumstances, a breach of the obligations which stem from the ECHR itself.