ABSTRACT
Criminal justice is traditionally a sensitive internal matter where states are keen on exercising their sovereignty. Indeed, criminal justice requires nation-states to strike a delicate balance between general interests and interests of individuals. In response to the globalisation of crime and terror, Member States of the European Union (EU) have nonetheless organised cooperation in criminal matters within an ‘area of freedom, security and justice’ (AFSJ). They progressively have accepted a transfer of competence to the EU. Under the undefined concept of AFSJ originally set out in the Treaty on the EU as amended at Amsterdam (article 2 EU), the EU aims at assuring the free movement of persons ‘in conjunction with appropriate measures with respect to external border controls, asylum, immigration and the prevention and combating of crime.’ At the outset, measures adopted in the AFSJ had a strong intergovernmental aspect even though they were closely related to the freedom of movement, therefore to the internal market. By exercising its competence, the EU develops a genuine European criminal area. This exerts a strong influence on the Member States' criminal justice system. Yet this influence has affected the traditional balance characterising any criminal justice system in a state based on the rule of law. The exercise of competences in criminal matters served first the objective to provide security to persons, but important aspects of freedom and justice appear overlooked.
