European Migration Policy Research Papers (original) (raw)

The aim of the paper is to analyse the significance of the issue of migration in the context of the Brexit referendum campaign. The analysis would focus on government documents and political parties’ campaign materials, referring also to the public debate. The statistical data concerning migration and its perception in the British society would also be presented. The article covers the institutional context of the decision to hold the referendum, the referendum campaign including the government documents and the campaign materials presented by the Vote Leave, and the data on social trends and public opinion polls referring to migration and the referendum.

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- European Migration Policy, Brexit

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the current state and prospects of partnership between the East African countries and the European Union on migration and forced displacement. The pandemic has exacerbated the root causes of migration and forced displacement. This is manifested by the continuation of irregular arrivals in Europe including from East Africa, after a brief decline in the initial phase of the COVID-19 response. The strong economic impact of the pandemic on the region has also disrupted the implementation of the Global Compact on Refugees that aspires to address forced displacement challenges through facilitating refugees' self-reliance. These challenges require East African countries and the EU to work towards establishing a better migration governance system with a people-centred approach and with a view to addressing the root causes of migration. East African states should drive their migration and forced displacement policies in ways that benefit their citizens. This should include devising ways of engaging the EU in line with its proposed talent partnerships in its New Pact on Migration and Asylum. The EU should work towards easing the economic burden of countries in East Africa including through providing additional development support and debt cancellation.

- by Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) and +1
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- Migration, East Africa, European Union, Refugees

Migration did not figure in the European Security Strategy of 2003.
Never mentioned as a threat, it was not even mentioned as a risk.
Thirteen years later, migration is widely cited in the new European
Union Global Strategy. Much richer than the previous security
document and global in aspiration, the Global Strategy treats
migration as a challenge and an opportunity, recognising the key
role it plays in a rapidly changing security landscape. However, this
multi-faceted perspective on migration uncovers starkly different
political and normative claims, all of which are legitimate in principle.
The different narratives on migration present in the new strategic
document attest to the Union’s comprehensive approach to the issue
but also to critical and possibly competing normative dilemmas.

- by Sine Plambech
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- Human Trafficking, Migration Studies, Sex Work, Nigeria

La política de la Unión Europea en materia de control de la migración forma parte de un proceso mundial de contención de las migraciones no deseadas y de prohibición de la capacidad de circulación de los pobres y marginados del mundo. Este proceso ha ido acompañado de una constante erosión de los derechos de los migrantes y los refugiados y solicitantes de asilo a entrar y establecerse en los países desarrollados. A partir de esta premisa de partida, el objetivo de este artículo es doble. Por un lado, pretende contribuir a explicar la creciente sofisticación e inhumanidad de la política europea, que conduce a espacios cada vez más reducidos en los que los migrantes pueden reclamar sus derechos y ser tratados con dignidad. Por otra parte, quiere exponer cómo en respuesta a lo que se plantea como una crisis por la llegada sin precedentes de refugiados y migrantes irregulares a partir de 2015 se desarrolla una política para una pretendida gestión «humana y eficiente » de la migración centrada en la protección de las fronteras exteriores. En particular queremos destacar como aludiendo a la excepcionalidad de la presión migratoria se han creado espacios de detención en las fronteras exteriores. Los hotspots ideados como una medida provisional para hacer frente a situaciones de emergencia humanitaria se han convertido en espacios de detención permanente donde se mantiene a los migrantes y solicitantes de asilo en condiciones que no cumplen las mínimas medidas de acogida sugeridas por el Alto Comisionado de las Naciones Unidas para los Refugiados (ACNUR) .

has the objective of supplying up-to-date, objective, reliable and comparable information on migration and asylum in the Community institutions, to the authorities and institutions of the Member States and to the general public with a... more

- by Noémie Marcus
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- European Migration Policy

Thèse soutenue publiquement le 28 novembre 2019, préparée sous la direction de Pierre Sintès (MCF-HDR) au sein de l’UMR 7303 TELEMMe - Temps, Espaces, Langages, Europe Méridionale-Méditerranée (AMU/CNRS-MMSH, Aix-en-Provence), École doctorale 355 - Espaces, Cultures, Sociétés.
Ce travail a bénéficié d’un contrat d’accueil scientifique au sein du Département de Géographie de l’Université de Zagreb (sous la coordination scientifique du Pr. Laura Šakaja).

- by Morgane Dujmovic
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- European Studies, European integration, Radical Geography, Border Studies

The current refugee crisis led to a peak of more than 1 million asylum applications within the European Union in the years of 2015 and 2016, numbers that reduced in the following years only because of agreements such as the EU-Turkey Statement that blocked the land borders between Turkey and the Balkans and the agreement struck between the EU, Italy and Libya envisaging to train Libyan authorities to intercept boats carrying migrants. This situation brought not only concerns on whether or not EU Member States were complying with their minimum obligations towards International Refugee Law, but also raised disputes on burden-sharing regarding asylum management within the EU, questioning the fairness of the mechanisms on responsibility allocation enforced through the Dublin Regulation. Therefore this work discusses how such circumstances of massive inflows facilitated the occurrence of violations of minimum procedural guarantees, necessary in order to ensure asylum-seekers are not subject to refoulement, as demonstrated in Hirsi and Khlaifia, among others cases. It also addresses how the Dublin Regulation has contributed for an unequal distribution of asylum applications among EU Member States, as well as how this has been affecting the manner in which most overburdened countries like Italy and Greece have been dealing with the referred obligations and how other Member States have been reacting towards this scenario. Lastly, it conducts an assessment of the Italian case-law in order to illustrate how obligations under International Refugee Law and rules of the EU Asylum Protection System are being enforced at a domestic level, highlighting relevant domestic legislation and the manner in which they have been ultimately applied.

- by Michelle L Rakue
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- Human Rights, Forced Migration, International Refugee Law, Fundamental Rights

Connecting the European Union of shared aims, freedoms, values and responsibilities. European Union and its values: freedom, solidarity, democracy, eds. Agnieszka Kłos, Jan Misiuna, Marta Pachocka, Aleksandra Szczerba-Zawada, CEDEWU,... more

- by Marta Pachocka and +1
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- European Studies, European integration, European Law, Refugee Studies

Europe’s immigration problem became a “crisis” from the EU perspective. The growing numbers of migrants and asylum seekers fleeing from politically destabilized regions like the Middle East and Africa or war-torn countries, most notably from Syria, as well as people who just looking for a better life seeking refuge in Europe, poses complex challenges for European policymakers. Europe deals with the illegal immigration via number of ways and policy instruments. Readmission agreements are one of the important components for the EU to tackle with the immigration issue. The third generation readmission agreements, particularly targeting irregular migration flow from third countries, are generally trying to be ratified with border neighbors/near border countries of the EU and especially with the ones that put migration pressure to the Union. Here, Turkey is one of the major routes of illegal migrants from the Eastern Mediterranean to Europe. Given the magnitude of the problem, recently signed Readmission Agreement and visa liberalization roadmap with Turkey should be viewed from this perspective. This article focuses on the timing and the possible impact of the Agreement on the EU-Turkey relations and it discusses the effect of the Readmission Agreement under the external governance and human security concepts. We, first of all, will analyze juridical structure and its role in EU law and attitude of EU towards readmission agreements. Secondly, we will study the readmission agreement with Turkey and its effects in terms of Turkey’s relationship with the EU. Third, clauses of the Turkey-EU Readmission Agreement will be analyzed from external governance and human security concepts and questions characteristics of contemporary forms of border security mechanisms of the EU.

- by Pelin Sönmez and +1
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- European Union, European Migration Policy, Readmission Agreements
- by andrea stocchiero and +1
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- Migration Studies, European Migration Policy

This study, commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the LIBE Committee , examines the EU approach on migration in the Mediterranean, covering developments from the 2015 refugee crisis up to the Covid-19 pandemic, assessing the effect these events have had on the design, implementation, and reform of EU policy on asylum, migration and external border control, and documenting the ramifications these changes have had on the actors who operate and are impacted by these policies, including immigration authorities, civil society organisations, and the migrants themselves. The study includes a review of the state of play of relevant EU asylum and migration legislation and its implementation, an appraisal of the situation in the Mediterranean, and a thorough examination of the external dimension of the EU migration, asylum and border policies, focusing on cooperation with third countries (Turkey, Libya and Niger), incorporating human rights and refugee law considerations and an analysis of the implications of funding allocations under the EU Trust Fund for Africa and the Refugee Facility in Turkey. The main goal is to test the correct application of EU and international law, having regard to increased allegations of human rights violations, undue criminalisation, and complicity of the EU in atrocity crimes committed against migrants at sea, stranded in Libya, or contained in Niger and Turkey. The role of EU agencies (Frontex and EASO) is also assessed alongside the bilateral or multi-lateral initiatives adopted by MS to confront the mounting challenges at the common external borders of the EU, incorporating the principle of solidarity and fair sharing of responsibility (Article 80 TFEU) as a horizontal concern.

- by Jennifer Allsopp and +1
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- European Union, International Migration, European Migration Policy, Human Trafficking and SMuggling

Greek Migration to Germany

- by Giuseppe Morgese
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- Environmental Law, Refugee Studies, Environmental Studies, Immigration

With a focus on the most recent wave of political emigration from Russia unleashed during President Vladimir Putin’s third term, this book explores the activities of those who voice political dissent after leaving their country. Based on rich ethnographic data and interviews gathered among Russian emigrants to the EU member-states, who are engaged in civic and political participation targeted at their home country, it demonstrates that emigration, particularly forced emigration in which political dissidents are squeezed out of their country, no longer functions efficiently as a means of calming political unrest. Drawing on the concept of social remittances, the author analyses the content, structure and the channels of political democratic remittances sent by political dissidents overseas, the factors that shape them and the perceived effects of these endeavours. A study of the latest wave of politically charged emigration from Russia and emigrants’ engagement in ‘homeland politics’, this volume will appeal to scholars across a range of social sciences working on migration, diaspora and democratisation processes, citizenship, EU studies and Russia studies.

- by Joanna Fomina
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- Russian Studies, Post-Soviet Studies, Forced Migration, Sociology of Migration

Executive Summary The European project has hit strong headwinds in tackling its most recent challenge. The refugee crisis has made institutional shortcomings and divisions between member states more visible than ever. The skyrocketing number of migrant deaths on European borders showed the world the European Union's failure to find a shared solution to the crisis. Although blamed for reacting too late, European leaders have been working on a solution to the refugee crisis, and the efforts have become more visible since the European Commission published its " European Agenda on Migration " in May 2015. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, on the one hand, has been playing a central role in convincing her European counterparts to formulate a common response. On the other hand, a mainly Eastern European group led by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has been actively opposing nearly every facet of Merkel's plan. In an effort to break the political and institutional stalemate, Turkey was brought into the game and became a key partner in " solving " the problem. Although the EU signed and sealed the deal with Turkey, confrontation between the two opposing factions in Europe persists. The issue has become not only a humanitarian crisis but also another important test for European integration itself after the economic crisis. This paper unfolds the story of the European response to the refugee crisis and the central role Angela Markel has played in initiating this. The German Chancellor has always been a leading figure in the EU; however, her position has become even stronger against the backdrop of the refugee issue. This position, of course, has come with a price.

- by Bianca Benvenuti
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- Turkey And Europe, Migration Studies, European Migration Policy

Le sort des expulsés constitue le point aveugle des politiques de retour des étrangers en situation irrégulière depuis l'Union européenne. Anonymes, oubliés, difficilement dénombrables, ne reste d'eux que l'image de personnes enfermées, menottées et finalement expulsées avec force sur des vols commerciaux ou par charters. Ils disparaissent avec ce départ et ne sont plus jamais nommés dans le débat public. C'est sur cette expulsion hors de l'État, mais aussi sur l'absence et le silence qui suivent l'expulsion que porte ce récit.
Il suit les stratégies de survie mais aussi de contournement des politiques étatiques des migrants expulsés au Mali. Il relate l'initiative pionnière de l'Association malienne des expulsés (AME) en termes de rassemblement et d'auto-organisation des expulsés, pour dénoncer le sort fait aux migrants et pour appeler les États africains à une meilleure protection de leurs ressortissants. Les expulsés deviennent ainsi une figure politique, symbolique du rejet étatique et d'une reconquête de citoyenneté dans des luttes inédites. La création par les expulsés de refuges et de lieux d'entraide accompagne l'émergence de cette protestation.
Ce mouvement, héritier des luttes pour l'émancipation, offre un aperçu du durcissement des politiques migratoires du point de vue de ceux qui les éprouvent et de leur capacité d'organisation face aux contraintes étatiques. Leur manifeste est emblématique de la constitution d'une existence collective, de la réappropriation d'une parole publique et de la formulation de revendications par les sujets du régime des migrations contemporain.

- by Clara Lecadet
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- Forced Migration, Migration Studies, Political Mobilization, Mali

As the International Law Association highlights “[power] entails accountability, that is the duty to account for its exercise.” Against this background, the article focuses on the question of accountability of the European Union (EU) border agency Frontex for potential human rights violations that may occur in the course of its operations. The article aims to challenge the Frontex’ stance that solely states would bear responsibility for any wrongful act. Rather, it is argued here, Frontex may incur responsibility, alongside a wrongdoing state. Shared responsibility or responsibility for complicity that may arise in such circumstances would reflect intertwined acts and powers of various actors involved in Frontex’ operations.

This report presents an overview of existing integration-political goals, programmes and strategies at different governance levels: the European Union level, the national level represented by the ten MATILDE countries –Austria, Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom,the regional level analysed based on the MATILDE rural case study regions, as well as the local level of these ten countries.Hence, this report aims to analyse "the desired goals and guiding principles in the governance of migration and integration politics" (MATILDE Grant Agreement No. 870831, 2019, p. 119)

The following essay aims to address the issue of the migration crisis that has been affecting the European Union (EU) for several years. This is not a new phenomenon at all, but the data shows us how in recent years the phenomenon is gaining more economical, medial and political power. Below you will find an explanation of the meaning of "migration crisis", why it is affecting the European Union and how this region is handling the surge of current refugee flows.

- by Serena Pignoloni
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- Political Science, Migration, European Union, Migration Studies

Este texto se enfoca en el proceso de inclusión de los países de origen y tránsito de la migración, en el control migratorio de la Unión Europea (UE). En el punto 1 se definen algunas herramientas analíticas del campo de los Governmentality
Studies. En el punto 2 se resumen una serie de documentos, instrumentos y prácticas que, progresivamente, han ido promoviendo el ejercicio de un control migratorio deslocalizado.
Posteriormente se reseñan las últimas iniciativas en materia migratoria en el espacio comunitario que impulsan la transferencia de competencias y responsabilidades
en la gestión de la inmigración y del asilo desde la UE hacia terceros países. Para finalizar se exploran las implicaciones de este régimen de control migratorio,
considerándolo un ejemplo de la cristalización de racionalidades políticas y tecnologías de
gobierno características del liberalismo avanzado.
.

In recent years millions of people have left their countries due to conflicts, persecutions, human rights violations, environmental catastrophes and poverty. This paper aims at analysing the multiple spheres of protection for the most vulnerable people, i.e. unaccompanied minors, in international, European and Italian law. The study starts from the international legal framework and in particular focuses on the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Regarding the European law, attention is devoted to the main phases of the identification and reception of unaccompanied minors (Directives 2013/33/EU, 2013/32/EU, 2011/95/EU). On such matter, many critical issues have been raised by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights concerning the misapplication of the law by the Member States. Finally, the last sphere of protection of these children will be examined, at national level, with the Italian law no. 47/2017.

- by Annalisa Geraci
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- European Studies, International Law, Asylum Law, Migration Law

History indicates that the reaction of the European Union towards the migratory pressures has not changed excessively. However, the management of migration and asylum has shifted from the internal dimension towards the external dimension, since the Union, as a supranational actor, has sought to manage these policy areas by building partnerships with third-party countries. The aim of this paper is to elaborate the process of the externalization of the EU migration and asylum policies, particularly following the rise of the Arab Spring in 2011, and its compatibility with human rights norms and standards, and analyze the role of the EU institutions and Member States in establishing a foreign policy and migration nexus. Lastly, the paper will scrutinize the possibility of extraterritorial asylum applications, which can be the ultimate form of externalization in terms of migration and asylum.

- by József Böröcz
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- Industrial And Labor Relations, History, European History, Sociology

This article is a comparative study of the institutionalization of the migration policy frameworks of post-Soviet states Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. All three countries share common historical legacies: a Soviet past, wars and conflicts, unemployment, high emigration, and commitment to integration into European bodies. To what extent do the migration policies of these three countries (driven by contextual forces, i.e. domestic challenges) address country-specific migration dynamics? Or are they imposed by the European Union? In which dimensions have the national policies on migration of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia evolved, and around which issues have they converged or diverged? Have these trends led to an integration of migration policymaking at the regional level in the South Caucasus?

- by Giuseppe Beluschi-Fabeni
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- Transnationalism, Romanian Studies, Romani Studies, Migration Studies

This Policy Paper is a summary of the Webinar entitled “Is the new EU Pact a change of paradigm for Mediterranean Migration Governance?”, organized by GRITIM-UPF in the framework of the EuroMedMig platform (an Imiscoe regional Network) in collaboration with ACSAR Foundation. The purpose of this EuroMedMig Policy Brief is to address these critical questions related to whether this new Pact will strengthen the current scenario in the Mediterranean or is it a factor that will, in the short term, change the Geo-politics of Mediterranean migration Governance; and how can Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries assess this new Pact?

- by Iván Martín and +3
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- European Migration Policy, external dimension of EU migration policy, Migration Policy In EU Countries

Fabian Georgi: Contradictions in the ‘Long Summer of Migration’. Outlines of a Materialist Border Regime Analysis. Today, the analysis of migration and migration policy from a perspective of critical political economy is necessary, because of the dramatic conflicts surrounding the so-called “refugee crisis” of 2015/2016, but also because explicitly materialist analyses of these issues have been marginalized for years, with problematic effects. Th us, the article sketches a theoretical and methodological outline of a materialist border regime analysis. It first criticizes problematic aspects of the influential “ethnographic border regime analysis” approach and then, by relying on regulation theory, develops a materialist understanding of migration and border regimes. Starting from a discussion of the social and political conflicts around German migration policy in 2015/2016, the article then goes on to identify three migration-related structural contradictions that are regulated within migration and bor-der regimes: accumulation by dispossession and the autonomy of migration;labour conflicts; and the structural chauvinism of national welfare states.

- by Fabian Georgi
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- Critical Theory, Border Studies, Refugee Studies, International Political Economy

Amidst daily reports on the fallout from the Syrian civil war or the horrific conditions of Libyan detention centres, the plight of Afghan migrants is being overlooked by international media and policymakers alike. Afghans are frequently denied asylum in the EU and are excluded from resettlement and relocation schemes available to other nationalities, in particular Syrian refugees in Turkey. Instead, Afghans are increasingly subject to repatriation, notwithstanding the significant dangers they face upon their return to Afghanistan.

- by Mehmet Enes Beşer
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- Migration, Afghanistan, European Union, International Migration

The objective of this paper is to explore and stress the place and importance of the migration and asylum issues in the context of the Eastern Partnership policy initiative. Existing since 2009 the Eastern Partnership currently covers relations between the 28 EU members, three Eastern European countries (Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine) and three Southern Caucasus ones (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia). As the migration and asylum area is very complex and multidimensional in terms of its subject scope, geographical scope and stakeholders involved, in this paper I will first present the overview of the EaP, in order to discuss the role of migration-related issues within the proper context.

The Syrian conflict started in March 2011 with a few popular demonstrations and swiftly escalated into a civil war involving international actors. Of the approximately 22 million Syrians recorded in the country on the eve of the war, as of November
2015, perhaps a quarter of a million have been killed; 7.6 million were internally displaced; and an estimated 5.6 million left the country. Of these, the great majority (4.3 million, or 76 percent of all refugees) moved to the countries neighbouring Syria: Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, as well as, in lesser numbers, to Egypt. (...)

- by Francoise De Bel-Air
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- Refugee Studies, Immigration, Lebanon, Syrian Studies

The EU emphasis on externalisation of migration governance hinders cooperation in the Mediterranean and consolidates pre-existing power inequalities. The most controversial examples have emerged in the content and context of the EU-Turkey Readmission Agreement and the EUTurkey Joint Statement. By analysing the case of Turkey and adding comparative perspective through the cases of Morocco and Tunisia, this article argues that the EU policy instruments of externalisation consolidate an asymmetrical relationship in the long run. They shift the economic, social, political and normative burden of migration management and reinforce a centre-periphery relationship between the EU-Med and non-EU Med regions.

The proposal for a European Union New Pact on Migration and Asylum, submitted by the European Commission on September 23, 2020, for approval by the European Parliament and the European Council, aims to provide a comprehensive response to the challenges posed to EU countries by migration and asylum. It is another step in the politically toxic attempts to reconcile the many fractures dividing Europe around the issue of migration: between the Mediterranean countries of first arrival of most irregular migrants (Spain, Italy, Malta, Greece) and those countries of final destination preferred by migrants themselves, between
hosting countries and those Eastern European countries (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and lately also Slovenia) that are not ready to host refugees, and between the politically-motivated refusal to admit more migrants and the economic reality of the need for migrant workers in European labour markets. As such, the New Pact on Migration is largely inward-looking, a policy package dealing mainly with ‘internal’ EU affairs. But the way European countries sort out their internal affairs concerning migration may have substantial repercussions for third countries, in particular African and Maghreb countries, and this is the main focus of this Policy Brief.