Soft Enforcement of EU Migration Law

Despite the EU’s sophisticated migration regulatory framework, uneven implementation outcomes, including fundamental rights violations, remain widespread. Traditional enforcement methods, such as infringement procedures before the Court of Justice of the EU, have met their limit in enforcing EU law.

In response, the EU is increasingly relying on a repertoire of enforcement practices that complement, rather than replace, judicial and exclusively sanction-based approaches. Soft enforcement refers to this emerging mode of ensuring enforcement of EU migration law and policy through processes of steering, supervision, and non-judicial accountability. It captures how actors such as EU institutions, EU agencies, and Member States work together to guide and oversee implementation through processes involving peer review, evaluation, information sharing, and mutual learning which promote compliance through cooperation, dialogue, and administrative oversight. As such, soft enforcement provides a flexible and politically viable means to strengthen the EU’s migration governance. At the same time, there are important questions about soft enforcement’s legal design, accountability, and impact.