The Hague Programme & the EU's agenda on freedom, security and justice: delivering results for Europe's citizens? CEPS Commentaries, 7 July 2006

[From introduction]. Strengthening the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ) is a strategic objective for the EU in the coming years. The AFSJ was established in 1999 when the Council agreed a very ambitious programme of measures with tight deadlines to provide the EU with a common area in justice and home affairs to mirror the internal market. However, in such sensitive fields as criminal justice, policing and immigration (which are at the heart of the AFSJ), legitimate concerns about national sovereignty and civil liberties have emerged opposing further EU integration. Amongst these, a considerable number of EU constitutional courts have questioned or even rejected the European Arrest Warrant, a crowning achievement of the AFSJ; a variable constellation of member states have effectively snubbed EU initiatives by making agreements to proceed independently on polic ing (for instance the Prüm Treaty or the Sarkozy initiative) and the issue of agreeing on common standards of legal migration to the EU has reached an impasse. Where is the AFSJ going