Since the Treaty of Amsterdam the European Union's area of freedom, security and justice has become one of the most dynamic and fastest expanding European policy-making domains. This book brings out the dynamics of institutional change and their impact on policy-making.

During the last decade the rapid growth of justice and home affairs as an internal policy making domain of the European Union has led to the Union emerging as an increasingly important international actor in this field. This book covers the institutional and legal framework of the external dimension of EU justice and home affairs; issues of policy interaction as well as specific challenges; policy responses and results in the fields of migration policy; judicial cooperation; counter-terrorism; and cooperation with major international partners. Taking into account the changes introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon as well as the priorities set by the 2010-2014 Stockholm Programme the book provides an in-depth exploration of the political and legal dynamics of a major new dimension of the EU.

The EU plays an increasingly important role in issues such as the fight against organised crime and the management of migration flows, transforming the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ) into a priority of the EU’s political and legislative agenda. This book investigates whether institutional change - the gradual communitarisation of the AFSJ - has triggered policy change, and in doing so, explores the nature and direction of this policy change. By analysing the role of the EU’s institutions in a systematic, theory-informed and comparative way, it provides rich insights into the dynamics of EU decision-making in areas involving high stakes for human rights and civil liberties. Each chapter contains three sections examining: the degree of policy change in the different AFSJ fields, ranging from immigration and counter-terrorism to data protection the role of EU institutions in this process of change a case study determining the mechanisms of change. The book will be of interest to practitioners, students and scholars of European politics and law, EU policy-making, security and migration studies, as well as institutional change.

As the European Union has evolved, it has also begun to address policy questions which are closer to the very heart of the state. From cooperation in Justice and Home Affairs, originally conceived as the third pillar of European cooperation, has emerged the Area of Freedom, Security, and Justice (AFSJ). A unique aspect of policy in this area is the desire to integrate the internal and external dimensions of this policy area. One of the tensions in this policy area has been balancing the protection of fundamental rights and increasing security. The first part of this book focuses on the institutional relations of policymaking in AFSJ, both within member states and between member states, in particular the issues of national executive control, national parliamentary scrutiny and peer review across the member states with regard to AFSJ. The second part focuses on specific policy areas which are part of AFSJ. Two chapters highlight the tension found in this policy area between security and human or fundamental rights, the first related to data retention and the second on policing external borders. The final two chapters are concerned with data exchange among European countries and transatlantically with the US, and the interface between AFSJ and the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). The chapters contained in the book were presented at the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations and the Dutch national parliament (Tweede Kamer), making it of interest to scholars and practitioners alike.

This book presents a collection of essays on key topics and new perspectives on the EU’s Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ) and has a Foreword by the President of the Court of Justice of the European Union, Prof. Dr. Koen Lenaerts. Europe’s area of freedom, security and justice is of increasing importance in contemporary EU law and legislation. It is worthy of special research attention because of its high-stakes content (particularly from an individual and a state perspective) and because its development to date has tangentially thrown up some of the most important and contentious constitutional questions in EU law. As the AFSJ becomes more and more intertwined with ‘mainstream’ EU law, this edited collection provides a timely analysis of the merger between the two. Showcasing a selection of work from key thinkers in this field, the book is organised around the major AFSJ themes of crime, security, border control, civil law cooperation and important ‘meta’ issues of governance and constitutional law. It also analyses the major constitutional and governance challenges such as variable geometry, institutional dynamics, and interface with rights around data protection/secrecy/spying. In the concluding section of the book the editors consider the extent to which the different facets of the AFSJ can be construed in a coherent and systematic manner within the EU legal system, as well as identifying potential future research agendas. The European Union as an Area of Freedom, Security and Justice will be of great interest to students and scholars of European law and politics.

This book examines the evolution towards increased supranational governance in the EU’s Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ). At the end of 2009, a successor programme to the Tampere and Hague Programmes was developed under the Swedish Presidency. Called the ‘Stockholm Programme’, it was adopted at a special EU Council Summit on 10-11 December 2009. The new agenda covers the period 2010-2014 and emphasises six areas of priority. In the context of these priorities, as well as the innovations introduced by the Lisbon Treaty, this edited book analyses policy change in the AFSJ, especially as it has been affected by the rise of supranational governance in this domain. From police cooperation and crime fighting to border management and counter-terrorism, much has changed, and the EU has taken yet another step forward in the direction of supranational governance. However, the various contributions also highlight that there are still problems and challenges remaining for the AFSJ. Collectively, this book considers how consequential the Lisbon Treaty has been for the AFSJ, as well as how successful the EU has been in achieving its stated goals as expressed in the Stockholm Programme. Thus, this book makes a significant contribution to the scholarly investigation of the AFSJ, but also to the study of European integration in general. This book was published as a special issue of the Cambridge Review of International Affairs.