An Ever-Closer Union: Communitarization of the European Union's Border Security

Abstract

From the signing of the Maastricht Treaty to the formal implementation of Schengen into European law, the postwar integration of Europe through the idea of a European identity has pushed the current member states of the EU to abolish their internal borders and erect stronger external ones. Pushed by changing circumstances, the EU has had to alter how it polices its external borders by further supranationalizing its security processes. By examining primary sources that have been crucial to the supranationalization of European border security, this paper answers the following research question: how has the EU created institutions that supranationalize its border security processes? After searching through primary sources and conducting a discourse analysis on the Maastricht Treaty, Council Regulation (EC) No 2007/2004, the Treaty of Lisbon, Council Decision 2009/371/JHA, Regulation (EU) 1052/2013, and Regulation (EU) 2016/1624, this paper concludes that the EU has created institutions that gradually shift the sovereignty from member states to the supranational level as per the rhetoric of securitization. This has generated significant pushback as the chain of command becomes less clear due to communitarization and power to conduct external affairs shifts from member states to EU institutions