Introduction

Abstract

Abstract Chapter 1 introduces Volume I’s main topics. This volume sets out and analyses both the institutional arrangements for EU cooperation on immigration and asylum law and the substantive law which has been adopted in the various fields that make up this area of law. The chapter outlines the contents of the rest of the volume. The four fields covered here are united by a series of four common and closely connected themes. First, a central issue in EU immigration and asylum law is the balance between protection of human rights and civil liberties on the one hand, and the State interests in public order, security, and migration control on the other. A second theme, now largely of historical importance following the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, is the complex and often controversial interaction and overlap between the rules that apply to most areas of EU law (in particular, the free movement of EU citizens, and EU association agreements) and the specific issues of immigration and asylum law. The third theme is the continued dispute over the scope of the powers granted to the EU in the areas of immigration and asylum law. Finally, the fourth theme is the convoluted territorial scope of EU immigration and asylum law.