The Limits of Mutual Trust in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice

This contribution identifies the challenges and offers answers to the following questions: 1. when does mutual trust end?, 2. where is the balance to be found between blind mutual trust and mutual distrust?, 3. what are the questions arising from the recent case-law of the Court?, 4. hοw will the European project survive the mutual trust crisis? This analysis argues that, while the recent case-law of the Court provides for circumstances that result in the non-application of mutual trust, its approach rightly remains that the rebuttal of this principle should only occur in exceptional circumstances, in order to preserve the existence of the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice. It finally concludes that, since the landscape has changed due to the crisis of values, providing rules for a new construction of the principle of mutual trust, thereby carving the exceptions to it, is needed more than ever.