The Court of Justice of the eu and the “New” Lisbon Treaty Environment Five Years On

Abstract

At the time of writing an important milestone in the implementation of the Treaty of Lisbon has just been passed. On 1 December 2014, five years after the Treaty entered into force, the Court of Justice of the European Union (cjeu) assumed its full jurisdiction over what remains of the so-called “third pillar” acquis. The acquis consists of the 133 measures that remain in force and which were adopted on the basis of Title VI of the pre-Lisbon Treaty on European Union (teu) that conferred competence upon the Union in the field of “police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters”. Rather than taking the Court into wholly uncharted territory, the reform constitutes an incremental change. This is because the Court already had some jurisdiction over the third pillar and it enjoys its full jurisdiction over criminal law measures that have been adopted under the post-Lisbon treaty settlement automatically. Nevertheless, the latest extension to its remit provides an opportune moment at which to examine some of the implications of the Court’s expanded criminal justice role. In order to do so, it is helpful to begin briefly by recapping the Lisbon reforms in so far as they are relevant.