The paper examines which instance has the final word in cases of human rights violations in Europe. In particular, the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg and the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg compete in the protection of human rights at the European level. Based on the current case law of both European courts, it is demonstrated that the ECtHR in Strasbourg has the final decision-making authority in human rights matters according to current law. Furthermore, the paper outlines the legal issues that still exist for a coherent protection of fundamental rights and how these can be resolved in the future.