European Area of Freedom, Security and Justice

The main steps of the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ) development are taken into consideration, from its origins to the Lisbon Reform, up to the present situation . The module intends to provide an analysis of the following issues: the division of competences between the European Union and the Member States, the institutional framework, the objectives of the AFSJ's policies as well as of the EU values and fundamental rights related policies (cooperation criminal matters, police cooperation, asylum and immigration), the most important acts adopted or currently being adopted. Another issue of the module is data protection and its principles, which are applicable in the judicial and police cooperation in criminal matters, thanks to the Lisbon Treaty.

The module addresses a complex and sensitive set of issues, made up of a combination of diverse policies , for which the Lisbon Reform constitutes an important step forward in European integration. As the module "Political and Juridical System" anticipated , the Lisbon Treaty, indeed, marking the fall of the "pillar" structure, not only made applicable to all the AFSJ policies (police and judicial cooperation in criminal mattes included, even if some peculiarities continue to characterize them) the ordinary legislative procedure (co-decision of the European Parliament and the Council and a majority of the votes cast), but also the extension of competences of the European Court of Justice and of the Commission.