European Union - Justice and Home Affairs

Justice and Home Affairs

Further information: Area of freedom, security and justice

Since the creation of the EU in 1993, it has developed its competencies in the area of justice and home affairs, initially at an intergovernmental level and later by supranationalism. To this end, agencies have been established that co-ordinate associated actions: Europol for co-operation of police forces, Eurojust for co-operation between prosecutors, and Frontex for co-operation between border control authorities. The EU also operates the Schengen Information System which provides a common database for police and immigration authorities. This cooperation had to particularly be developed with the advent of open borders through the Schengen Agreement and the associated cross border crime.

Furthermore, the Union has legislated in areas such as extradition, family law, asylum law, and criminal justice. Prohibitions against sexual and nationality discrimination have a long standing in the treaties. In more recent years, these have been supplemented by powers to legislate against discrimination based on race, religion, disability, age, and sexual orientation. By virtue of these powers, the EU has enacted legislation on sexual discrimination in the work-place, age discrimination, and racial discrimination.

Read more about this topic:  European Union

Famous quotes containing the words justice and, justice, home and/or affairs:

    “It would be naive to think that peace and justice can be achieved easily. No set of rules or study of history will automatically resolve the problems.... However, with faith and perseverance,... complex problems in the past have been resolved in our search for justice and peace. They can be resolved in the future, provided, of course, that we can think of five new ways to measure the height of a tall building by using a barometer.”
    —Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)

    “You cannot do justice to the dead. When we talk about doing justice to the dead we are talking about retribution for the harm done to them. But retribution and justice are two different things.”
    —William, Lord Shawcross (b. 1902)

    “For it’s home, dearie, home—it’s home I want to be.
    Our topsails are hoisted, and we’ll away to sea.
    O, the oak and the ash and the bonnie birken tree
    They’re all growing green in the old countrie.”
    —William Ernest Henley (1849–1903)

    “To quarrel with the uncertainty that besets us in intellectual affairs would be about as reasonable as to object to live one’s life with due thought for the morrow because no man can be sure he will alive an hour hence.”
    —Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)