Back to the future: Twenty-five years later, relaunching the project of transforming the EU into an Area of Freedom, Security and Justice? Books reviewed Steve Peers (2023).EU Justice and Home Affairs Law. Fifth Edition., Oxford University Press.Iglesias Sánchez Sara & González Pascual Maribel (eds) (2021). Fundamental Rights in the EU Area of Freedom, Security and Justice. Cambridge University Press.

The objective of transforming the EU in an Area of Freedom Security and Justice (AFSJ) area dates back to 25 years and in the meantime hundreds of legislative measures, political strategies and operational measures have been adopted even if, according to several critics, the original balance between the three notions of freedom, security and justice has not been granted. Two important books have analyzed the content of the measures adopted and the main obstacles still present even after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty and of the EU Charter, which have removed most of the previous institutional and legal obstacles in fulfilling the original objective. However, as crisis such as 9/11 paved the way to the transfer to the EU of new power and responsibilities also the war in Ukraine unblocked, at least temporary, the current Dublin standstill. An unprecedented movement of interstate solidarity has followed sheltering millions of citizens of that country, and this precedent may show the way for a stronger freedom dimension in the AFSJ.