Brief description:

There is a widespread agreement that the EU migration policy is outdated and inefficient. Facing an increase in arrivals, the EU migration system collapsed and Member States and EU institutions failed to find a durable and sustainable solution. Furthermore, the humanitarian crises in Belarus and Ukraine in 2021-2022 prompted the return of the “crisis logic” which monopolised the migration debate.
Within this context, each reform proposal or action plan has been widely scrutinized. However, due to the ever-changing migratory landscape, comprehensive studies of the EU migration policy easily become outdated. It is necessary to find a prism around which to gather a legal analysis of the EU migration policy. In this thesis, such a prism is identified in one of the guiding principles of the EU’s action in the field of migration: solidarity.
The role of solidarity within the EU migration policy is grounded on a sound normative basis: solidarity is framed by primary law as one of the guiding forces behind EU’s competence on migration. Furthermore, the CJEU has stated that Member States have the duty of solidarity when acting in the field of migration. The thesis claims that despite the prominence of solidarity in the legal framework, the status quo of the EU migration policy unveils the ineffective application of the principle, especially considering the latest reform proposals. Conversely, a new uncodified principle has emerged as the driver of the EU migration policy: security. With the ever-growing influence of the securitisation narrative, EU migration management is now predominantly security-oriented. To substantiate such a claim, two case studies are analysed: the Belarus and Ukrainian crises. If analysed against the background of a securitarian migration policy, the two opposite EU responses converge. The need to oppose the Russian influence at its external borders indeed prompted EU leaders in one case to adopt a harsh approach with the EU “instrumentalisation package” and in the other to take a welcoming stance under the EU temporary protection scheme.
Within this context, migration management is emerging as a security tool instrumental under the CFSP, which raises several legality issues. Looking specifically at the Ukrainian humanitarian crisis response, the thesis will present a policy proposal which, acknowledging the predominance of security in the current migration policy, indicates solidarity as a more legally sound and efficient solution. Before comprehensively reforming the EU migration framework it is necessary to implement the role of solidarity as its guiding principle. I argue that to embrace its full potential, the conceptualization of solidarity should be strengthened and broadened, to cover not only interstate and supranational actors (e.g. cooperation between the EU and the Member States and among Member States) but the final recipients of the migration policies, third-country nationals, as well.

Methodology:

Research Questions: 1. Is the EU migration policy adherent to the solidarity principle prescribed by art. 80 TFEU? The research is focused on a prominent element of the EU migration policy: the policies and laws on irregular arrivals at the EU external borders. In particular, the research will look firstly at the current EU migration policy; secondly, it will assess the main changes introduced by the 2020 New Pact on Migration and Asylum; thirdly, it will analyse the actions proposed and implemented by the EU in reaction to the most recent “migration crises” in Belarus and Ukraine. Against this background, the research will first analyse the notion of solidarity, introduced but not defined in article 80 TFEU. Solidarity will be framed around the concept of burden-sharing: a solidaristic EU migration policy should assist frontline states targeted by migratory fluxes primarily by means of relocation. Then, the research will question whether the EU migration management is compliant with the solidarity principle so defined. 2. Is security the new guiding principle of the EU migration policy? The research will first frame the role of security in EU law, especially in the Common Foreign and Security Policy. It will then assess the influence of security concerns on the EU migration policy. Looking at the securitisation studies on migration, the research will question whether a codified role of security in guiding the EU migration policy could be identified. The EU actions facing the Belarus and Ukrainian crises will be used as case studies to present the emerging role of migration control as an EU foreign policy tool. The research will study security as the implicit link between two separate EU policies: migration and foreign policy. Methodology: The proposed research will combine both a doctrinal and a ‘law in contest’ approach. It draws on other disciplines, such as migration studies and political science to unveil the interlinks between legal principles and pragmatic policy objectives in influencing EU actions in the field of migration.

Keywords: Instrumentalised migration, New Pact on Migration and Asylum, Principle of Solidarity, Security, Temporary Protection

Home University:

Bocconi University

Faculty:

Legal Studies - International and European Law

Supervisor: Eleanor Spaventa

Added to catalogue on: 18-05-2023

Additional information: