This book is the first full-length study of the growth and current role of fundamental rights in EU law and policy. It traces the emergence of fundamental rights through the case-law of the European Court of Justice, their consolidation through the Charter and Agency of Fundamental Rights, and their impact on the external policies of the Union.

Olivier De Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, is currently Professor of Human Rights Law at the University of Louvain (UCL, Belgium) and at the College of Europe (Natolin), as well as a Member of the Global Law School Faculty at New York University and a Visiting Professor at Columbia University (2007-8). He holds an LLB from the University of Louvain and an LL.M. from Harvard University, as well as a doctorate in law from the University of Louvain. He set up the Delegation to the EU of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and later chaired the EU Network of Independent Experts on Fundamental Rights, a group of high-level independent experts instituted by the European Commission and the European Parliament to monitor compliance by both the EU institutions and the EU Member States with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. He acted on a number of occasions as an expert for the Council of Europe and for the European Union on human rights issues.