Justice and Home Affairs

Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) was introduced as one of the European Union’s (EU) main pillars by the Treaty of Maastricht signed in February 1992 and that entered into force in 1993. Initially it was intended that the countries of the EU should co-operate in this field. But it was soon realised that this was not sufficient. Many of today’s biggest problems - problems like organised crime, the drug trade, smuggling, terrorism, illegal immigration, cyber crime and many more - do not respect national frontiers, so the EU would need to go further and develop common policies and effective cross-border responses. This was enshrined in law by the Amsterdam Treaty of 1997 and gave the EU the go-ahead to develop some common policies in the JHA field. It also put the issue of illegal cross-border activities and crime at the top of the political agenda.

On 1 July 2010, the former Directorate-General for Justice, Freedom and Security was divided into the Directorates-General for Justice and the Directorate-General for Home Affairs. The new DG Justice, consists of four directorates – Civil Justice, Criminal Justice, Fundamental Rights and Union Citizenship and, since January 2011, the directorate for Equality. This move reflects the growing importance of policies related to this area in the work of the Union and the need to look for practical solutions to cross-border problems.

Meanwhile, the Directorate-General for Home Affairs focuses on two main areas: security and migration. These priorities are to be implemented by the Stockholm Action Plan and seek to ensure that all activities necessary and beneficial to the economic, cultural and social growth of the EU may develop in a stable, lawful and secure environment.

The Directorate-General for Justice and the Directorate-General Home Affairs offer a number of funding opportunities through co-financed programmes. DG Justice uses a system to operationally manage direct grants. This system is called PRIAMOS and includes a component where applicants can register, download application forms and submit applications for grants.

Between 2007 and 2013, over 5 billion euro has been made available to fund projects in the home affairs policy area through DG Home Affairs. These projects are mainly run by Member States and non-governmental organisations in the fields of refugees, migration, integration, borders and security. Spending priorities and delivery mechanisms in the area of home affairs are currently under review by the European Commission. However, it is thought that EU funding in this policy area post-2013 will focus on delivering results, EU added value and complementarities between the EU budget and national budgets.