Campaign briefing: Democracy and the European constitution

Controlling justice and home affairs

When justice and home affairs was first added to the powers of the European Union, in the Maastricht treaty of 1992, it was kept separate from the main decision-making system of the EU. The so-called pillar structure ensured that the European Commission and the European Parliament did not have the same role as they had in legislation relating to the single market, for example: the politicians and civil servants involved were all from the member state governments.

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Since then, there has been a slow transfer of authority in the Amsterdam and Nice treaties so that the Commission and Parliament have acquired some influence in these areas. The European constitution will take this a substantial stage further (III-158 to III-178). The pillar structure will, in many respects, finally disappear, with QMV and co-decision being applied to a range of issues for the first time.

The intergovernmental procedures used for JHA in the past were always very secretive. Information about who was taking decisions and what decisions were taken was not published, which meant that member state parliaments often found it hard to hold their respective governments to account for the decisions that were taken. Both the European and the member state parliaments are given a specific role in scrutinising these actions in the future (I-41(2)).

A further consequence of the end of the pillar system is that the European Court of Justice will acquire jurisdiction over these issues in a way it did not have before (I-28(1)). This will protect the rights of citizens better.

And among the new powers being brought under the scope of QMV are important JHA powers such as asylum and immigration (III-166(2)). At present, member state governments find it hard to ensure that effective decisions can be taken because of the unanimity provisions. QMV will make their decision-making more effective.

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