History
It was created, on the foundations of the TREVI cooperation, as the Justice and Home Affairs pillar by the Maastricht treaty in order to advance cooperation in criminal and justice fields without member states sacrificing a great deal of sovereignty. Decisions were taken by consensus rather than majority (which was the case in the European Community areas) and the supranational institutions had little input.
The Treaty of Amsterdam transferred the areas of illegal immigration, visas, asylum, and judicial co-operation in civil matters to the integrated European Community. The term Justice and Home Affairs later covers these integrated fields as well as the intergovernmental third pillar. The pillar was renamed "Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters" to reflect its reduced scope.
Before the Maastricht Treaty, member states cooperated at the intergovernmental level in various sectors relating to free movement and personal security ("group of co-ordinators", CELAD, TREVI) as well as in customs co-operation (GAM) and judicial policy. With Maastricht, Justice and Home Affairs co-operation aimed at reinforcing actions taken by member states while allowing a more coherent approach of these actions, by offering new tools for coordinating actions.
The Treaty of Lisbon, which entered into force in December 2009, abolished the entire pillar system. The PJC areas and those transferred from JHA to the Community were once more grouped together in creating an area of freedom, security and justice.
| Signed In force Document |
1948 1948 Brussels Treaty |
1951 1952 Paris Treaty |
1954 1955 Modified Brussels Treaty |
1957 1958 Rome treaties |
1965 1967 Merger Treaty |
1975 N/A European Council conclusion |
1985 1985 Schengen Treaty |
1986 1987 Single European Act |
1992 1993 Maastricht Treaty |
1997 1999 Amsterdam Treaty |
2001 2003 Nice Treaty |
2007 2009 Lisbon Treaty |
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| Three pillars of the European Union: | |||||||||||||||||||||
| European Communities: | |||||||||||||||||||||
| European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) | Treaty expired in 2002 | European Union (EU) | |||||||||||||||||||
| European Economic Community (EEC) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Schengen Rules | European Community (EC) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| TREVI | Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters (PJCC) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| European Political Cooperation (EPC) | Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Unconsolidated bodies | Western European Union (WEU) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Treaty terminated in 2011 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Read more about this topic: Police And Judicial Co-operation In Criminal Matters
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