Resumen de What Could Have Been And May Yet Still Be: Brexit, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the Right to Have Rights

Adam Ramshaw

• This article considers the pervading influence of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union for the UK following Brexit. The UK Government has been clear in its wish that the Charter have no influence in the UK after the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union (EU). However, the government position shows a misunderstanding of the Charter, its potential ongoing effects notwithstanding Brexit, and the nature of the UK’s Withdrawal Agreement with the EU. This article looks to inform British understandings of the Charter. The article argues that in the myriad positions that the UK may find itself following Brexit the Charter ought to and likely will have some role to play. This proposition is based on a legalistic discussion of the relevant instruments but also on the theoretical understandings of one’s “right to have rights” based upon the work of Hannah Arendt and furthered by Emmanuel Levinas.