The role of the European Union and international legislation in the government of the migration crisis

Blerina Muskaj; Arjana Llano

doi:10.31893/multirev.2024309

Keywords:

asylum policy

limitations of the liberal state

mobilisation of nationalism

European identity

refugee crises

Abstract

This paper focuses on the over researched migrant and refugee emergency of 2015-2016, adopting a broader temporal and spatial lens. The 2015 refugee crisis shook Europe and its security and brought immigration and asylum policy to new political dynamics that are developing at a pace and with difficulty in coordination. This particular 'crisis' of 2015 gave a stronger political impetus to the migration and asylum agenda of the EU's destination and transit states. concerns about the limitations of the liberal state, including external border policy, the framing of migrants, European identity and the phenomenon of return migration security, which mainly affected Central and Eastern Europe. Through the analysis of a broad set of materials emerging from the research project, we identified several interacting features of governance in times of crisis, including a multilevel but complex actor landscape, complicated and fragmented legal systems and policy provisions that can change at the temporal level as well as at the territorial level and the current characteristics of a 'crisis governance mode'. Can we identify the specific features that form this state of crisis?
References
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

How to cite

Muskaj, B., & Llano, A. (2024). The role of the European Union and international legislation in the government of the migration crisis . Multidisciplinary Reviews, 7(12), 2024309. https://doi.org/10.31893/multirev.2024309

[1] Adamo, S. (2016a). What is “a successful integration”? Family reunification and the rights of children in Denmark. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice, 18(1), 56-75. https://doi.org/10.1080/13876988.2015.1101140

[2] Adamson, F. B., Triadafilopoulos, T., & Zolberg, A. R. (2011). The limits of the liberal state: Migration, identity and belonging in Europe. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 37(6), 927-940. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2011.573255

[3] Anderson, J. J. (2021). A series of unfortunate events: Crisis response and the European Union after 2008. Palgrave Macmillan.

[4] Bourbeau, P. (2011). The securitization of migration: A study of movement and order. Routledge.

[5] Buzan, B., Kelstrup, M., Lemaitre, P., & Tromer, E. (1990). The European security order recast: Scenarios for the post-Cold War era. Palgrave Macmillan.

[6] Campesi, G. (2015). The Arab Spring and the crisis of the European border regime: Manufacturing emergency in the Lampedusa crisis. Critical Sociology, 41(4-5), 551-568. https://doi.org/10.1177/0896920514546697

[7] Cantat, C., Thiollet, H., & Pécoud, A. (2020). Migration as crisis. Routledge.

[8] Capoccia, G., & Kelemen, R. D. (2007). The study of critical junctures: Theory, narrative, and counterfactuals in historical institutionalism. World Politics, 59(3), 341–369. https://doi.org/10.1353/wp.2007.0022

[9] Carrera, S. (2007). The EU border management strategy FRONTEX and the challenges of irregular immigration in the Canary Islands (CEPS Working Document No. 261). Centre for European Policy Studies.

[10] Carrera, S., & den Hertog, L. (2015). Whose Mare? Rule of law challenges in the field of European border surveillance in the Mediterranean. CEPS Paper in Liberty and Security in Europe. CEPS.

[11] Carrera, S., & Guild, E. (2010). Joint Operation RABIT 2010: FRONTEX assistance to Greece’s border with Turkey: Revealing the deficiencies of Europe’s Dublin asylum system. CEPS Paper in Liberty and Security in Europe. CEPS.

[12] Carrera, S., & Lannoo, K. (2015). Treat the root causes of the asylum crisis, not the symptoms. CEPS Commentary. Brussels.

[13] Cassese, S. (2016). L’Europa vive di crisi. Rivista trimestrale di diritto pubblico, 6(3), 779–789.

[14] Council of the European Union. (2009). Schengen catalogue of recommendations and best practices (16613/2/08 REV 2). Brussels.

[15] Crawley, H., & Skleparis, D. (2017). Refugees, migrants, neither, both: Categorical fetishism and the politics of bounding in Europe’s ‘migration crisis’. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 40(12), 1958-1976. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2017.1315402

[16] Crawley, H., & Skleparis, D. (2017). Refugees, migrants, neither, both: Categorical fetishism and the politics of bounding in Europe’s ‘migration crisis’. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 44(1), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2017.1284695

[17] Dalton, R. J. (2021). National/European identities and political alignments. Migration as crisis. Routledge.

[18] De Genova, N. (2013). Spectacles of migrant ‘illegality’: The scene of exclusion, the obscene of inclusion. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 39(8), 1181-1198. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2013.823316

[19] Den Heijer, M., Rijpma, J., & Spijkerboer, T. (2016). Coercion, prohibition, and great expectations: The continuing failure of the common European asylum system. Common Market Law Review, 53(2), 615-644. https://doi.org/10.54648/COLA2016035

[20] Estevens, J. (2018). Migration crisis in the EU: Developing a framework for analysis of national security and defence strategies. Comparative Migration Studies, 6(1), 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40878-018-0080-7

[21] European Commission. (2016a). The urban agenda for the EU: European cities get their say in EU policy making.

[22] European Commission. (2016b). Relocation and resettlement: State of play.

[23] European Council. (2006). Council conclusions on integrated border management.

[24] Fekete, L. (2006). Enlightened fundamentalism? Immigration, feminism and the right. [Publisher information needed].

[25] Frontex. (2016). Risk analysis for 2016. Warsaw. ISBN 978-92-95205-46.

[26] Frontex. (2016a). General report 2015. Warsaw.

[27] Geddes, A. (1995). Immigrant and ethnic minorities and the EU's ‘democratic deficit’. Mediterranean Politics, 1(1), 43-68. https://doi.org/10.1080/13629399508403407

[28] Geddes, A. (2009). Migration as foreign policy? The external dimension of EU action on migration and asylum. Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies. Stockholm.

[29] Geddes, A., & Hadj-Abdou, L. (2018). Changing the path? EU migration governance after the ‘Arab Spring’. Journal of Common Market Studies, 56(1), 133-148. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.12623

[30] Grossman, P. Z. (2019). Utilizing Ostrom’s institutional analysis and development framework toward an understanding of crisis-driven policy. Journal of Common Market Studies, 57(2), 350-367. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.12754

[31] Hall, A., & Lichfield, J. (2015, August 24). Germany opens its gates. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/germany-opens-its-gates-berlin-saysall-syrian-asylum-seekers-are-welcome-to-remain-as-britain-is-10470062.html

[32] Josipovic, I., & Reeger, U. (2018). Legal & policy framework of migration governance: Australia—Country report. [Publisher information needed].

[33] Keeler, J. T. S. (1993). Opening the window for reform: Mandates, crises, and extraordinary policymaking. Comparative Political Studies, 26(4), 452-481. https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414093026004002

[34] Ludlow, P. (2015). The refugee crisis plus an annex on EMU and the British question. Eurocomment Preliminary Evaluation 2015/9. Brussels.

[35] Luedtke, A. (2011). Uncovering European Union immigration legislation: Policy dynamics and outcomes in international migration. [Publisher information needed].

[36] Malena, M., & Morano-Foadi, S. (2012). Integration policy at European Union level. [Publisher information needed].

[37] Marenin, O. (2012). Challenges for integrated border management in the European Union. Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces. Geneva.

[38] McAdam, J. (2014). The concept of crisis migration. Forced Migration Review, 46, 4-7. https://www.fmreview.org/crisis/mcadam

[39] McDonough, P., & Tsourdi, E. L. (2012). The ‘other’ Greek crisis: Asylum and EU solidarity. European Journal of Migration and Law, 14(3), 315-335. https://doi.org/10.1163/157181612X637697

[40] New Keywords Collective. (2016). Europe/crisis: New keywords of ‘the crisis’ in and of Europe. Zone Books.

[41] Niemann, A., & Zaun, N. (Eds.). (2018). EU refugee policies and politics in times of crisis: Theoretical and empirical perspectives [Special Issue]. Journal of Common Market Studies, 56(1), 1-142. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.12624

[42] Pallister-Wilkins, P. (2016). Interrogating the Mediterranean migration crisis. Mediterranean Politics, 21(2), 276-296. https://doi.org/10.1080/13629395.2015.1134988

[43] Rein, M., & Schön, D. A. (1996). Frame-critical policy analysis and frame-reflective policy practice. Knowledge and Policy, 9(1), 85-104. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02832373

[44] Reuters. (2015). Italy’s Renzi wants Balkan states’ EU accession expedited. Reuters. [Date needed].

[45] Sahin-Mencütek, Z., et al. (2022). A crisis mode in migration governance: Comparative and analytical insights. Journal of Contemporary European Research, 18(2), 202-217. https://doi.org/10.30950/jcer.v18i2.1156

[46] Schilde, K., & Goodman, S. W. (2021). The EU's response to the migration crisis: Institutional turbulence and policy disjuncture. In M. Riddervold, J. Trondal, & A. Newsome (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of EU crises (pp. 153-172). Palgrave Macmillan.

[47] Schinkel, W. (2017). Imagined societies: A critique of immigrant integration in Western Europe. Cambridge University Press.

[48] Slominski, P. (2013). The power of legal norms in the EU’s external border control. Knowledge and Policy, 26(3), 167-182. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12130-013-9414-7

[49] Takle, M. (2012). The Treaty of Lisbon and the European border control regime. Comparative Migration Studies, 1(2), 113-132. https://doi.org/10.1186/2193-9011-1-2-113

[50] The Guardian. (2016, January 5). Danish police seize valuables from asylum seekers for first time. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/05/danish-police-seize-valuables-asylum-seekers-first-time

[51] Tömmel, I. (2013). The new neighborhood policy of the EU: An appropriate response to the Arab Spring? Journal of European Integration, 35(2), 139-156. https://doi.org/10.1080/07036337.2013.765848

[52] Trauner, F. (2016). Asylum policy: The EU’s ‘crises’ and the looming policy regime failure. Democracy and Security, 12(1), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/17419166.2015.1132341

[53] Triandafyllidou, A. (2022). The global governance of migration: Risk, uncertainty and ‘mess management’. Journal of Borderlands Studies, 37(3), 345-362. https://doi.org/10.1080/08865655.2022.2105162

[54] Völkel, J. C. (2017). When interior ministers play diplomats: Fatal ambiguities in Europe's securitised migration policy. In A. Jünemann, N. Fromm, & N. Scherer (Eds.), Fortress Europe? Challenges and failures of migration and asylum policies (pp. 45-62). Wiesbaden: Springer.

[55] Weiner, M. (1992). Security, stability, and international migration. International Security, 17(3), 91-126. https://doi.org/10.2307/2539190

[56] Wolff, S. (2008). Border management in the Mediterranean: Internal, external and ethical challenges. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 21(2), 229-247. https://doi.org/10.1080/09557570802205994

[57] Zaiotti, R. (2013). The Italo-French row over Schengen, critical junctures, and the future of Europe’s border regime. International Migration, 51(4), 117-128. https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12032

[58] Zaun, N. (2017b). EU asylum policies: The power of strong regulating states. Palgrave Macmilla

Abstract

References

How to cite