Searching for a Strategy for the European Union’s Area of Freedom, Security and Justice

This book examines the vision and strategy of the EU’s Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ), or the lack thereof. This policy area has been significantly in the news, notably due to the terrorist attacks in 2015 in Paris and 2016 in Brussels, and the ongoing refugee crisis in the Mediterranean region. This makes it even more paradoxical that, at this time, the EU finds itself, for the first time ever, devoid of any significant, over-arching strategy.

This book examines the vision and strategy of the EU’s Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ), which has become one of the key objectives of the European Union (EU). Recent events have also highlighted the saliency of several of the policy issues at the heart of the AFSJ. Amongst them, one can mention the terrorist attacks in 2015 in Paris and 2016 in Brussels and the ongoing refugee crisis in the Mediterranean region. At the same time, the end of the Stockholm programme, which provided the strategic framework for the development of the AFSJ between 2010 and 2014, has been followed by the adoption of new ‘strategic guidelines’, which can only be described as a short, vague and general document. It is therefore paradoxical that, at a time when AFSJ matters - such as asylum, migration, borders, terrorism, police and judicial cooperation – have never been so salient, the EU finds itself, for the first time ever, devoid of any significant, over-arching strategy for the development of its AFSJ. This book was published as a special issue of European Politics and Society.