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In the past years, a “fundamental rights approach” has extended into most areas of EU law; primary and secondary, substantive and procedural. The right to effective judicial protection has, accordingly, also entered the field of procedural autonomy, which overlaps in scope of application with the traditional principle of Rewe-effectiveness. This article explores what happens when these two worlds meet—concluding that the fundamental rights approach is under-delivering individual procedural protection relative the old school. Although the novel, Charter-based approach can intuitively be expected to widen the perspective beyond the personal scope of EU rights, it has in fact promoted effective enforcement of EU law over individual protection (especially as nationally defined). Beyond field-specific rationalisations, the casuistic origin of the right, its legislative context and avenues of justification all explain why effective judicial protection has not quite kept its promise to prioritise individual rights over systemic cohesion.
