Abstract
The preamble to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union refers to the desire to establish an area of " freedom, security and justice ". How are these concepts to be articulated, particularly in the light of Article 6 of the same Charter, which is devoted to the right to freedom and security ? Over the past two decades, the imperative of security has gradually replaced the right to safety in the discourse, and sometimes the practice, of many European states, at the risk of undermining political freedom and reopening the way to a spirit of vengeance to the detriment of a sense of justice. Starting with an elucidation of the political meaning of the right to security, and then of the risks involved in putting forward a right to security, this conference proposes to conceive of security in the mode of liberation, i.e. as a necessary condition for freedom, which must be one of the objectives of public authorities.
