ABSTRACT
The European Union is currently facing a number of challenges ranging from the financial crisis, to the refugee crisis, which escalated in 2015, to the increased terror threat in Europe. Each of these challenges includes prominent security elements and, given these globalised times, they also each relate to the external dimension of the EU as an Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ). Tackling these challenges involves continued interaction with the United States of America (US), often with the latter setting the agenda. The transatlantic dimension of the AFSJ cuts across several dimensions of the EU legal landscape such as aspects of Common Foreign and Security Policy law1 and financial markets regulation and is increasingly important for the external understanding of EU law. While much has been written on the EU-US relationship,2 considerably less has been written on the transatlantic dimension of AFSJ law, which is instructive because of what it tells us about the constitutional structure of the AFSJ project; that is, its internal and external character, and how the external landscape shapes the internal agenda.3 The AFSJ as a legal landscape is characterised by the ‘hybridity’ of legal sources
* Both authors wish to express their gratitude to Claudio Matera for his helpful feedback and insights, which have improved this chapter. Any errors remain the responsibility of the authors.
