ABSTRACT
The European integration process has become more contested. The resilience of democratic standards in view of populist governments and parties, slow economic growth and inflated public debts, migratory pressure, terrorist attacks and the departure of the United Kingdom from the EU are among the internal challenges facing the Union. Many of these issues are interlinked with developments in the outside world, notably instability or the consolidation of authoritarian rule in a range of third countries. This combination of internal and external forces has led to a process of politicization, which has been defined as ‘an increase in polarization of opinions, interests or values and the extent to which they are publicly advanced towards the process of policy formulation within the EU’ (Wilde 2011: 560). Indeed, we see how the outcome of national and European elections is increasingly determined by the way in which politicians deal with immigration, border control, counter-terrorism and citizens’ and migrants’ access to justice and rights. Justice and home affairs (JHA), being a particularly sensitive field of public policy and closely linked to states’ sovereignty, has become a playing field for those attempting to politicize EU integration.
