The External Dimension of Area of Freedom, Security and Justice: Hijacker or Hostage of Cross-pillarisation?

Abstract

The objective of this article is to investigate the issue of cross-pillarization in the context of the growing interconnection between the EU Justice and Home Affairs and other policies. At the conceptual level, the article traces the development and functioning of cross-pillarization in various contexts: legal and political, internal and international. At the analytical level, it investigates whether cross-pillarization might be used by European institutions in a strategic way in order to promote particular interests. Based on the literature on European inter- and intra-institutional politics, this article makes the case that the process of cross-pillarization has a strong politics component. The Strategy for External Dimension of Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ) and the Passenger Name Record Agreement are used to demonstrate how the objective of cross-pillar consistency may be jeopardized by bureaucratic turf wars and conflicts over ideology or resources.