The dark side of fundamental rights adjudication? The Court, the Charter and the asymmetric interpretation of fundamental rights in the AMS case and beyond

Th e aim of the article is to deal with the case law of the European Court of Justice in the fi eld of fundamental social rights, with particular regard to the application of the Charter of fundamental rights. Th e analysis starts from an evaluation – in the fi rst part – of the judgment delivered by the CJEU in the case Association de médiation sociale (AMS). Th en, the second part of the article explores the legal reasoning of the CJEU in other paradigmatic cases, from which is possible to infer the asymmetric interpretation of the Charter of fundamental rights, mentioned in the title. Finally, some brief refl ections on the role of the CJEU in the social architecture of the European Union are proposed.