Solidarity as a challenge for the EU: The case of justice and home affairs

抄録

If one wants to assess the progress made by the EU as well as its persisting limitations in meeting the challenge of solidarity one EU justice and home affairs, since the Treaty of Amsterdam regrouped under the fundamental treaty objective of the “area of freedom, security and justice” (AFSJ), can be regarded as one of the most interesting domains to explore: It is not only the EU policy domain which has expanded most since the Treaty of Amsterdam in terms of new structures, mechanisms and legislation, but also one in which Member States are exposed to considerable asymmetric pressures which have made solidarity emerge as a key political issue which has even led to special provisions being included in the TFEU. This article explores, first, the main asymmetric pressures in the AFSJ domain in the fields of asylum, immigration, external border management and internal security, looks then at the EU’s legal, political, financial and operational responses to these challenges. It comes to the conclusion that overall solidarity in the EU justice and home affairs domain can today clearly be regarded as a reality, which it was not yet in any substantive sense a decade ago, but also as a still fragile and incomplete one. Its progress seems to depend more on pressures reaching the stage where they can put the sustainability of the AFSJ and hence the interests of most or all Member States at risk―as this was the case during the 2011 “Schengen” crisis―rather than a permanent strong commitment to help Member States affected by serious pressures and capability deficits.