Resumen de Mission accomplished? EU Justice and Home Affairs law after the Treaty of Lisbon

Steve Peers

• The legal framework regarding EU Justice and Home Affairs Law was changed fundamentally by the Treaty of Lisbon, so that the usual rules on decision-making, jurisdiction of the Court of Justice, legal instruments and legal effect are now largely applied to this area of law.

  The various issues falling within the scope of JHA law are now set out in Title V of Part Three of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which is divided into five chapters, beginning with general provisions, followed by chapters on immigration and asylum, civil law, criminal law and policing law. This paper examines the application of the new rules in practice, in particular the impact of extending QMV; the extended legislative powers of the European Parliament; the role of the Commission as compared to the Member States; and the role of national parliaments. It concludes that this area of EU law is now fully part of the mainstream, with the exception of the special opt-outs for three Member States. However, it now follows that some of the general problems of EU law apply to JHA legislation, and there are emergent problems ensuring that JHA legislation is applied in practice by Member States, in particular from the perspective of the ECHR.