European Union Law

INTRODUCTION

This chapter considers the treatment of non-EU nationals by EU law. It is organised as follows.

Section 2 looks at the central Union competences, Articles 77-9 TFEU, which provide for EU law to be adopted in the fields of border checks, asylum and immigration respectively. These provisions are subject to the Protocol on the Schengen Acquis. The Schengen Acquis is composed of the measures adopted to implement the 1985 and 1990 Schengen Conventions, which provide for common external frontiers and visa, immigration and asylum policies. Ireland and the United Kingdom are not signatories to these Conventions. Measures developing the acquis should be adopted under the Protocol, with Ireland and the United Kingdom only participating with the agreement of all the other Member States. If the measure is not governed by the Protocol on the Schengen Acquis, those two states have a further Protocol, the Protocol on United Kingdom and Ireland, which gives them the right to decide whether to participate in the legislation. There is a further Protocol on Denmark which provides that any measure adopted in this field will only bind it as a matter of international law.

Section 3 considers the central themes governing this field. EU law on non-EU nationals forms part of the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice. This Area is seen as contributing to a wider European way of life, with the Union measures on non-EU nationals regulating the latter's perceived contribution and threat to this way of life.