Guarding the guards. The European Convention and the communitization of police co-operation

Wagner, Wolfgang

doi:10.1080/13501760600999540

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 9 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Looking at the different sub‐policy areas, one can detect several episodes where Member States attempted to sideline institutional competitors by pre‐empting their empowerment. In EU police co‐operation, for instance, the issue of who ‘guards the guardians’ (Wagner, ) has been particularly salient. The EP was eager to get a stronger grip on the work of Europol (European Police Office), yet it faced strong opposition from Member States (Trauner, ).…”

Section: Policy Change and Stability After The Introduction Of Cmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Communitarization of the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice: Why Institutional Change does not Translate into Policy Change

Trauner

Servent

2016

J of Common Market Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article proposes an explanation as to why institutional change -understood as more competences for the European Union's supranational institutions -has rarely led to policy change in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ). It draws attention to the constraints that newly empowered actors have faced in the wake of introducing the co-decision procedure. If the key principles of a given AFSJ sub-policy -its 'policy core' -were defined before institutional change occurred, the Council (as the dominant actor of the early intergovernmental co-operation) has found it easier to prevail in the altered structural environment and to co-opt or sideline actors with competing rationales. The article compares the importance of the new decision-making procedure with two alternative pathways potentially leading to policy change, namely, the power of litigation and the impact of unexpected external events.

show abstract

Section: Policy Change and Stability After The Introduction Of Cmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Communitarization of the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice: Why Institutional Change does not Translate into Policy Change

Trauner

Servent

2016

J of Common Market Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…To some scholars, these were clear indicia of the Union's intention to keep Europol 'at arm's length from any supranational control by the EU Parliament and the European Court of Justice'. 23 Creating more concerns, even, than questions of accountability, was the growing complexity of the Union's legislative framework, which brought questions of fragmentation to the fore. 24 Among these complexities were the increased possibilities for opt-ins and other flexible arrangements, making it challenging to ensure consistent, Union-wide parliamentary and judicial control.…”

Section: Amsterdam Fragmentation Across Pillarsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Obstacles to supranational operational police powers in the European union: Europol reform and the construction of trust between national police authorities

Lingenfelter

Miettinen

2021

Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the three decades since it was established in the context of a secretive and technocratic intergovernmental organization, Europol has evolved into a European Union agency with some, albeit limited, supranational capacities. This article overviews the gradual legal development of Europol’s powers and discusses the obstacles to creating a European federal police force. Limits to powers and accountability continue to frame discussions on EU’s operational criminal justice powers. While many EU agencies can lay claim to embryonic supranational enforcement agency, the EU Member States have closely guarded operational and prosecutorial enforcement powers. This guardedness still shows, especially in EU criminal justice agencies’ reliance on intergovernmental structures, such as colleges of national members, and mutually recognized but ultimately national decisions and judgments. Through the lens of its history, this article examines how and what kind of balance has been struck between accountability and competences in the current state of evolution toward Europol’s potential supranational authority.

show abstract

“…From the very beginning, police cooperation at the EU level had been viewed with suspicion, as it developed outside the European Community framework, in a purely intergovernmental dimension that kept it away from judicial and parliamentary scrutiny (Wagner, 2006). Many thought that the adoption of the Treaty of Lisbon offered the potential for significant improvement in the organizational accountability of EU security agencies, mainly due to the diminishing role of interior ministers in defining their organizational models and powers (Kaunert, 2010;Kostakopoulou, 2010;Salminen, 2011).…”

Section: A "Democratic" Border Agency?mentioning

confidence: 99%

European Border and Coast Guard (Frontex): Security, Democracy, and Rights at the EU Border

Campesi¹

2018

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The European Border and Coast Guard (EBCG) was officially launched in October 2016. In the European Commission’s view, it marks a milestone in the history of the integrated management of European Union (EU) borders. This article describes the main features of the new agency, focusing on two key issues. First, it analyzes the powers that the new agency is entrusted with in an attempt to understand whether it will be able to articulate a “European space of control” where an authentically postnational border police will take the lead over national border agencies. Second, it explores whether, and to what extent, the reform of the EU border agency has been accompanied by the development of mechanisms to exercise effective democratic and judicial control over its activities. The discussion concludes by arguing that the views of those who believe that the evolution of EU justice and home affairs policies does not raise particular challenges for the exercise of democratic control over EU security agencies and the protection of fundamental rights during their operations are fundamentally flawed, and that new ways to ensure proper scrutiny over security policies that take account of the peculiarities of EU institutional structure need to be devised.

show abstract

Guarding the guards. The European Convention and the communitization of police co-operation

Cited by 10 publications

References 9 publications

The Communitarization of the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice: Why Institutional Change does not Translate into Policy Change

The Communitarization of the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice: Why Institutional Change does not Translate into Policy Change

Obstacles to supranational operational police powers in the European union: Europol reform and the construction of trust between national police authorities

European Border and Coast Guard (Frontex): Security, Democracy, and Rights at the EU Border

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About