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The EU is clearly in the process of developing an external dimension to the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ). This paper focuses on ex. Police and Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters (PJCCM) provisions. These developments pose specific legal basis issues for the EU, given its complex EU-member state legal relationship, and the inter-institutional balance, all reflected in the treaty framework post-Lisbon. New Court of Justice rulings are now emerging which will assist in this issue. Equally the approach to be taken in developing these relationships will be crucial. This paper proposes the adoption of an Onuf style constructivism in order to best capture the reality of the process that is developing, and has developed for the ex. PJCCM measures internally. This then needs to be allied with a constitutionalism model to ensure a balanced development of all three aspects of the AFSJ.

Three layers of changes are afoot in transnational policing cooperation within the EU. In addition to reform of Europol and Eurojust, the Lisbon Treaty came into force on 1 December 2009, and the Stockholm Programme, for the next five years, was published at the end of December 2009. Each of these developments will have a major impact on the legal and policy framework for transnational EU policing. This article critically analyses these changes from an EU law perspective.

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