Antonino Gullo

The Competence of the Court of Justice of the EU in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice

Th e following papers were presented at the international conference on Th e Competence of the Court of Justice of the EU in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice, held in Rome at LUISS University on the 13th and 14th November 2014. Th e conference was the fi rst in a series of three events dedicated to Th e Role of the Court of Justice in building an Area of Freedom, Security and Justice post-Lisbon organised by the Trio EU Presidencies of Italy, Latvia and Luxembourg in 2014–2015, with the fi nancial support of the European Commission and in partnership with LUISS University of Rome, the Riga Graduate School of Law and the University of Luxembourg. As recognised by the European Council on the 27th of June 2014, when defi ning the strategic guidelines, one of the key objectives of the Union is to build the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ) without internal frontiers, with full respect for fundamental rights. Th e Court of Justice (ECJ) has played, and will play, a central role in this process. Th e basic idea behind these “TRIO” conferences was indeed that of exploring the increasing role of the Court of Justice in shaping the AFSJ in the post-Lisbon era, through a dialogue between academia and the main actors of European integration in this fi eld – both EU and national institutions. Th e fi rst conference took place just a couple of weeks before a key date for the EU: starting from 1st December 2014, in fact, the role of the ECJ has been enhanced by the new possibility for the Commission, according to Article 10 of Protocol No. 36 to the Lisbon Treaty, to launch infringement proceedings against Member States for lack of transposition, or incorrect transposition, of ex-“Th ird Pillar” instruments – such as, in particular, framework decisions – adopted under the Amsterdam Treaty. Th at is why the conference focused on this new ECJ competence, examining a variety of issues related to the future of the whole AFSJ in the light of old and new instruments in this fi eld.