Justice and Home Affairs

For the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Council the year 2007 brought a record: the 164 texts adopted were not only an increase of nearly 40 per cent compared to 2006, but also the highest number of texts ever adopted during a single year.1 This increase was due mainly to the accelerated implementation of parts of the Hague Programme (which had been subject to serious delays the year before); the extension of external relations activity in the JHA domain (mainly in the form of readmission and visa agreements); and the putting into place of the new 200713 financial framework and of the Schengen Information System (SIS) II. The Commission also injected new impetus in the migration policy developments. The well-managed German Presidency secured agreement on the incorporation into the EU of most of the police co-operation and data-exchange provisions of the Prm Convention, which had still divided Member States the year before, and the Portuguese Presidency contributed much to the extension of the Schengen border control zone to the new Member States in December. At the end of the year, however, the impressive numerical increase in output could not hide the fact that substantive progress was overall more modest. The adoption of the `Rome I Regulation on non-contractual obligations, for instance, contrasted with the Member States' failure to agree on the long overdue Framework Decision on procedural rights in criminal proceedings. Several important legislative acts also continued to be delayed because of the unanimity requirement and national parliamentary scrutiny reserves. Against this background, the quite extensive reforms in the Treaty of Lisbon for the `area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ) appeared all the more important, although the new perspectives thus opened came with an enhanced potential for further differentiation in the JHA domain.