The European Refugee Crisis: An Impetus for Enhanced Cooperation and Strengthened Refugee Protection?

Abstract

The refugee crisis represents one of the biggest challenges the EU is facing today. While the EU’s slow reaction and insufficient response to the crisis are widely discussed in public discourse, we know little about the impact the crisis has on policy-making in the European Union. Traditionally, situations of crisis have been considered a trigger for both stronger European integration and more executive ways of policy-making. What we observe so far is that the current situation highlights a diversity of political approaches towards asylum-seekers: While some Member States have responded to the crisis with restrictive policies and closed borders, others have been more welcoming and opened their borders for some time. At the same time, some countries have called for more European integration, while others void European cooperation in the field of asylum policy. On this background the panel addresses the following questions: How has the EU responded to the refugee crisis? Is the current refugee crisis a trigger for stronger integration or disintegration? Which impact did the crisis have on interinstitutional dynamics in the field of EU asylum policies? Did it entail policy restrictions in Member States and how can different approaches in EU Member States be theorised? The panel specifically welcomes papers dealing with EU decision-making, interinstitutional dynamics, European integration and comparative perspectives of Europeanisation.

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