Reflections on European Security
and the Co-operation through the EU: Sweden
Gunilla Edelstam
Assoc. Prof. Dr. (Public Law), Sweden
European security can be defined as security concerning cross-border criminality. The security police find that there is a risk for Sweden of becoming a base for the planning of attempted outrages in other countries. The free movement that is an important basis of the EC and that includes visa and immigration issues makes it important to enforce the co-operation between the legal authorities in the Member States. This can be done through third-pillar co-operation. This third-pillar co-operation hardly affects the sovereignty of the Member States but for Sweden it has caused a certain democratic deficit. The lack of legal personality of the EU should, from a strict legal point of view, cause a problem when signing international treaties but as long as these treaties have only political importance it hardly matters.
