Abstract

TRIANDAFYLLIDOU, Anna  and  MANTANIKA, Regina. The Mediterranean Refugee Emergency: Assessing the EU Policy Responses. Migr. desarro [online]. 2017, vol.15, n.28, pp.7-38. ISSN 1870-7599.

Irregular migration has been a primary policy concern for the UE in the last 20 years. Relevant policies have so far been predicated on a watertight distinction between asylum seekers -people fleeing persecution and/or conflict, violence and insecurity- and irregular migrants in search for better life and work opportunities. The recent refugee emergency of 2015-2016 however shows that such a distinction is becoming increasingly inadequate to govern population flows. Not only flows but motivations of people on the move are mixed: People, who flee their countries, do so to escape from war or oppressive regimes but with a view also of building a better future for themselves and their children. The line drawn between asylum and migration flows is increasingly blurred also on the ground as people travel the same routes and use the same smuggling networks to cross the UE’s external borders unlawfully. The recent massive flows of irregular migrants and asylum seekers across the Mediterranean to Greece and Italy have put to the test the European migration and asylum framework requiring for new measures and new approaches in order to deal with the emergency. This paper offers an overview of what has been known as the ‹refugee crisis› in the last two years and critically discusses the relevant policy responses at the EU level. It assesses innovative policy approaches undertaken during this period and further explores the need for both new conceptual and policy frameworks to deal with the current global migration and asylum landscape.

Keywords : asylum; refugee; crisis; irregular migration; European Union; border management; quotas; UE-Turkey joint statement; Valetta summit; Balkan route.

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