EU Internal Security Cooperation

Over the last few years the legitimacy and very survival of the EU has been linked to the notion of a Europe that protects. The so-called migration crisis pushed EU security policies into new territories, both in the literal (i.e. by increasing the cooperation with Third countries) and the figurative sense (e.g. by overhauling European police databases). In parallel, the threat posed by the Islamic state and cyber-related risks sustained a very high pace of policy-making. In its most ambitious formulation of a Security Union, EU internal security has been presented as an indivisible good. Constitutional barriers between the EU as a legislator and the exercise of executive powers by the member states have blurred (e.g. the foreseen creation of EU-own border guards). But just as much as the EU appeared to be pulled together by fear, it has been ripped apart by polarised views on irregular migration and refugee protection, by the erosion of fundamental rights and the Rule of Law as well as by growing tendencies for a renationalisation or informalisation of security policies. It is far from clear that core pillars of the European integration project, such as Schengen, have been saved or that further disintegration (including/going beyond Brexit) is off the table. The core logics of the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice, namely the assumption of mutual trust and mutual recognition, are under severe stress and challenged before the European Court of Justice. And manifest needs for reform, such as for the Dublin asylum system, seem forever blocked by incompatible national interests. We call for papers from multiple perspectives that take stock of these turbulent developments in EU internal security cooperation and reflect on the resulting - and hitherto largely unresolved - structural tensions for the EU as a whole.