Justice and home affairs

While the Irish rejection of the Treaty of Lisbon with its numerous reforms in the justice and home affairs (JHA) domain cast a shadow over future development perspectives the year 2008 saw nevertheless a continuous growth of the Union's `area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ). With a total of 144 texts adopted during the year1 the annual output of the JHA Council was in numerical terms 12 per cent lower than in the record year before but in substantive terms the year was marked by the adoption, especially in the field of judicial co-operation in criminal matters, of an impressive range of major legal instruments and, especially in the field of asylum and immigration policy, several major new initiatives.