A.  Introduction

The main purpose of this paper is to consider the impact of the Treaty establishing the Constitution for Europe (hereinafter: the Constitutional Treaty or CT) on the realization of the Areaof Freedom, Security and Justice (hereinafter: the Area or AFSJ). The paper has two parts. The first part deals with the Area in current law, whereas the second part focuses on the provisions of the Constitutional Treaty concerning the Area.

Focussing on the AFSJ and on the reforms agreed in this field in the Constitutional Treaty, the general purpose of this paper is to try to answer the question of what the Area will be under the CT and to what extent it will be re-organized therein. In order to find an answer, this article examines the scope of changes, the significance of the accomplishment and the ability of the EU to build the Area as envisaged in the CT. It seeks to find a conclusion about the appraisal of the reorganization of the Area and its potential evolutionary character.

B.  The Area of Freedom, Security and Justice in Current Law

I.  The Nature and Rationale of the Area

The AFSJ is the continuation and further development of the original concept of cooperation in Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) as introduced to the law of European Union (EU) by the Treaty of Maastricht, which entered into force on 1 November 1993. This treaty created the three-pillar structure of the EU, in which the European Community and its law forms the first pillar, Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) are dealt with in a second pillar and JHA are regulated and organized in a third pillar. The next treaty reforming the EU, signed in Amsterdam in 1997 and in force since 1999, brought basic amendments and reformed the architecture of JHA. This treaty brought about the current structure of the EU and especially its third pillar, which since covers only police and judicial cooperation...