'Opinion 2/13 and other matters': ECHR President Dean Spielmann

On Saturday 14 March, Trinity College hosted a lecture by the President of the European Court of Human Rights (Strasbourg) Dean Spielmann entitled 'Opinion 2/13 and other matters'. In Opinion 2/13, decided just before Christmas, the Court of Justice (Luxembourg) controversially and unexpectedly ruled that the EU could not accede to the European Convention on Human Rights under the terms of the agreement carefully negotiated over a number of years. President Spielmann, an alumnus of Fitzwilliam College, expressed 'great disappointment' with the Court of Justice's decision. He was also gravely concerned about any decision that the UK might take to leave the European Convention on Human Rights.