[MUSIC] With the opening of the internal borders of the European Union, pressure grows to create greater interestic co-operation on police and judicial matters. If people can freely travel across Europe, so do criminals. My colleague Elaine Fahey, from the University of Amsterdam, is an expert of this rapidly growing field of European intervention. She will be illustrating to you how the European Union is building in area of freedom, security and justice. Alaine, we look forward to learning from you. >> So just what is the EU's Area, Freedom, Security and Justice. Well, the concept of the EU's Area of Freedom Security and Justice, with the AFSJ as its acronym, emerged after the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1997. It incorporates a vast range of policy fields from migration law, family reunion law, asylum law, to police cooperation, and cooperation in criminal law. And it's also one of the EU's busiest fields of activity. This is because it is built upon much cooperation, initially much informal cooperation. Of course, not surprisingly, justice and security as policy fields, are very controversial. Rising levels of activity at supranational level, serves to fuel concerns about the priority of national control. My name is Elaine Fahey and I'm an academic working at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands on the EU's Area of Freedom, Security and Justice. Europe remains very sensitive to concerns of the member states in this area, and as the treaty explains, internal national security remains a competence of the member states. So then, why should the EU have an Area of Freedom, Security and Justice? Well, in the EU, citizens have the right to move and to live in any EU country. Since the Schengen agreement, there are largely no border checks between EU countries, with very few exceptions. For example, water bordered member states and new accession states. This Schengen Area was founded by the Schengen Agreement of 1985. The signatory states to this agreement have abolished all internal borders and have instead, a single external border. There are common rules for visas, asylum, and border controls. The freedom of movement which is embodied in the Schengen Area, presents challenges for national security. And while it presents challenges, it also offers tremendous benefits for EU citizens. And so then, who makes the AFSJ? And how does it actually evolve? Well, with such a broad policy field, it raises the question as to who makes it? Or defines it, and its future content? So where does it come from, then? Well, the treaties in article 68 provide that the European Council is to define the future strategic guidelines for the AFSJ. Currently, the Stockholm program is the governing policy document in this area, which has run since 2009, and is set to end in 2014. But the treaties do not mandate any specific form of document or policy, and so its exact form is open to development. Recently, the European Council has invited the council presidencies to begin the process of reflection on its future, and the commission has been invited to present an appropriate contribution. Okay, so let's do a quiz. So who specifically defines the AFSJ and what is its legal basis? Is it firstly the European Parliament and Civil Society, pursuant to Article 67? Is it the commission and council pursuant to article 68. Is it the European council pursuant to Article 68 or is it the European Parliament and Commission pursuant to Article 67? Well, the answer is of course, the third one, the European Council, pursuant to Article 68, the treaty just specifies the European Council. So what exactly do EU citizens gain from the EU's Area of Freedom, Security and Justice? Well a core feature of the EU's AFSJ is its development of fundamental rights for its citizens. For example, the EU charter for fundamental rights, inspired by the European Convention on Human Rights, is now binding on the same level as the EU treaties. It gives citizens a vast range of civil, political, economic and social rights. This charter has been helpfully published by the EU in a tiny thumb size book, not to detract from its far-reaching greatness. Many institutional actors in the EU develop its fundamental rights profile. So for example, the EU Fundamental Rights Agency in Vienna works actively to monitor its success and functioning. And you will hear more about the EU charter from my colleague, Daniel Sarmiento. E.U. citizens also enjoy rights under the European Convention on Human Rights, which the EU, as an organization, is in the process of joining. And this is in addition to rights enjoyed under national constitution law and under international conventions of sources. So, a rights bonanza indeed. As a large territory from the Atlantic Ocean to the Baltic Seas, the EU works to protect its citizens from crime. In particular, it strives to give them access to a local justice system i.e to protect their rights as far as possible as accused or victim in a cross border context. For example, the EU has sought to introduce the right to an interpreter, translator, information about your rights, legal advice rights before or after trial. Rights for a detained person and special rights on pre-trial detention. Okay, let's look now at more specific fields of the AFSJ. So, when we reflect on ideas of justice and security, it raises concepts of both civil and criminal justice. So let's now examine the question as to whether there is an EU criminal law. Well, in an area without borders, where there's far-reaching free movement, free circulation of criminals also remains a distinct possibility. And so how does the EU protect its citizens? And how does it accommodate national sovereignty and national security concerns? Well, it does this through its path to enact EU criminal law. So article 83 of the treaties allows the EU to adopt directives, which establish minimum rules defining criminal offenses in areas of serious crimes, which have a cross border dimension. Now this is a new provision brought in by the Treaty of Lisbon. And the first EU criminal law adopted was the trafficking directive, and has been followed on by many other measures. Okay, let's now do another quiz. So, an EU law criminalizing multiple forms of parking offenses in EU member states would fail to satisfy the requirements in article 83 because firstly, it doesn't concern serious crime and lacks a cross-border dimension. Secondly, it doesn't concern serious crime, it lacks a cross-border dimension, and it's not in the form of minimum harmonization. Thirdly, it lacks a cross-border dimension and it's not in the form of minimum harmonization, or none of the above. Well, the answer is the second one. Because, within the terms of article 83, all of its elements must be satisfied. So, neither an EU Sherlock Holmes nor an EU Miami Vice. Well, if member states retain significant sovereignty and legislative powers, what kind of EU criminal law is actually possible then? Well, EU criminal law currently includes well over a hundred instruments, mainly procedural more so than substantive. For example, in areas such as terrorism, trafficking, money laundering, corporate crime, and organized crime. The UK has been examining whether to opt out of a large range of many AFSJ measures, specifically 129 of them, and is considering whether to opt back into 35 of them. Moreover the Court of justice will only have full jurisdiction to give preliminary rulings in this area from December 2014. This demonstrates how the AFSJ, as a field of EU action, is undergoing tremendous evolution, as to its policies, and also its institutional framework. OK, so let's now look at how the police actually cooperate in the EU. And let's examine whether or not there is an EU FBI. Well, in the EU, there are many means by which member state authorities, police customs and law enforcement cooperate so as to prevent, detect, and investigate crime. You can imagine my examples of this type of cooperation. For example, the speedy exchange of information between authorities or in areas of money laundering where financial institutions must report suspicious transactions, or under data retention law whereby data must be made available for law enforcement. The EU has its own police cooperation body, Europol, which was set up in 1995, and it supports joint investigations of Member State authorities. Europol has its own information system, including ID information, DNA, and fingerprints. But an EU FBI? Well, not quite. There are plans for a European Public Prosecutor's Office under development at the moment, which, under a particular draft law, would draw from a pool of member states public prosecutors who would step up and investigate cross-border fraud at EU level, effectively decentralizing it. This demonstrates the sensitivity but also the innovation at the heart of the EU's AFSJ as an evolving and dynamic policy field. The impact of the Court of Justice gaining full jurisdiction along with the development of a European prosecutor, will stand as a major step towards the realization of an EU AFSJ through changes, through its policies, its framework, its institutions, and also through its procedures.
