Workshop 2: Migration and EU Borders

The second workshop under the title Migration and Borders on 3 December 2020 addresses the ramifications of the EU’s 2015-2016 ‘migration crisis’.

Member States’ “strategic non-use of Europe” in the aftermath of the ‘crisis’ raises questions about the prospects for a truly common EU migration and asylum policy. The reintroduction of border controls by some Member States threatened to undo the major achievements under Schengen. In light of populist movements, burden-shifting by Member States, and the distraction of Brexit, the Commission’s Agenda on Migration has achieved only mixed results. The divisions and disagreements between the Member States is illustrated by the fact that only some Member States signed the UN’s Global Compact for Migration in December 2018. Meanwhile, both the Member States and the EU institutions continue to pursue cooperation with non-EU countries on migration management; however, the choice of countries for cooperation (such as Turkey, Libya and Afghanistan) and the format of these cooperations (non-legally binding, and excluding democratic oversight by the European Parliament) have been heavily criticized by both legal scholars and NGOs.