The EU is a unique political experiment also because it has introduced numerous individual rights while lacking the coercive power to enforce them. Nevertheless, through complex and often excessively slow legal mechanisms, the European Union has succeeded in modifying member states’ legislation and ensuring that established rights are applied in member states. This is probably the most striking case in which legal and judicial mechanisms have managed to influence the behavior of executive power. However, European citizens are not always aware of the mechanisms offered to them by European institutions. The Project aims to contribute to raising awareness among European citizens and civil society institutions that European institutions can protect their rights. IRPPS provides coordination and is developing several case studies demonstrating how individuals, non-governmental organizations, and associations can use European institutions. From a normative perspective, the project also identifies existing obstacles, showing when and why Community institutions prove ineffective.

The Project’s ambition is to develop a typology of actions and actors that can benefit from the rights established and promoted by the European Union and other institutions (such as, for example, the European Court of Human Rights).
The European case is unique in that it allows rights to be defended through judicial and para-judicial instruments without having coercive power of last resort. This is possible thanks to a network of actions carried out by various decentralized authorities and political actors.