The Area of Freedom, Security and Justice: A balance between the Spanish presidencies

Revista CIDOB d'afers internacionals, núm. 91

The EU’s Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ) has been the field of European public policies that has experienced the most dynamism in the last decade. Since the previous Spanish presidency in 2002, the Union has exponentially increased its prominence in areas such as immigration, borders’ control, judiciary cooperation and the fight against terrorism and organised crime. All these topics are often among the main priorities not only of European governments, but also of their citizens. They are also particularly sensitive issues within the process of European construction, due to their central position in the modern notion of national sovereignty. This has been the case since its establishment in the Maastricht Treaty (1992), in a situation of clear tension between the pushes towards a progressive communitisation of these topics as a response to the results of the free movement of people and the Member States’ reticence to losing the control over these policies.

Coinciding with the recent Spanish presidency of the EU, one of whose goals has been to foster European co-operation in these fields, this issue reviews the progress made in the past years in some of the policies and topics that constitute the Union’s third pillar.

ISSN: 1133-6595 (edición impresa)
ISSN: 2013-035X (edición en línea)