Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (Stockholm)

EESC opinion: Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (Stockholm)

Key points

Security and justice policies must safeguard the values of freedom. The EESC considers that these policies should take the protection of the fundamental rights guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights and the Charter of Fundamental Rights as their starting point.

The EESC proposes that in the new European Commission, immigration and asylum policies be closely associated with the protection of fundamental rights as part of the same political approach.

When the Treaty of Lisbon comes into force, policies for the area of freedom, security and justice will rest on a broader legal foundation: the EESC therefore believes that the European Union can achieve aims more ambitious than those proposed by the Commission.