Lecture 3 of the Course European Law (2016/2017), Utrecht University. 

Lecture 3, The Area of Freedom, Security and Justice

We have to try to understand the reasons for why we have an area of freedom, security and justice. How does that function? That is legislation. And then the look at the powers that have been given from the Member States, to the EU. The European Union is what the Member States decided to give to the EU.

Why do we have the AFSJ?

Before the EU, there was an European community. When you wanted to cross the border, you had some time to spend hours in the traffic jam. Some Member States decided that it would be good to abolish the frontiers between the Member States. In 1985 (Schengen-agreement) principles were laid down between Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Germany. In 1990 there was the Convention on the Implementation of the Schengen agreement.

There were things needed to open the borders. There was a need for compensatory measures to address:

• Asylum and immigration (not all people are welcome in the Member State)
• Border controls
• Criminal activities (criminals can move easily when there are no borders)
• Civil matters (marriage with a foreign person)

If you open the borders, then you will have all kind of problems to address. It would be nice to use that we had by this time, the institutions to implement these rules.

There was a formal intergovernmental cooperation in Justice and Home Affairs (JHA), with specific legal instruments, unanimity, and a limited role of EC institutions. This was followed by the Treaty of Amsterdam and Treaty of Lisbon.

The Justice and Home Affairs cooperation became more supranational after the Treaty of Lisbon, and became Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (Part III,... Interested? Read the instructions below in order to read the full content of this page.