Towards a common European union immigration policy: Navigating a difficult obstacle course

Abstract

The following article focuses on the various attempts that have been carried out to reform the migration and asylum legislation of the European Union. It examines the current perceptions about migration following the 2015-2016 migration and refugee crisis, and then briefly traces the historical evolution of the current legal framework on migration and asylum. My aim is to show how this evolution has reached the point where any attempts to reform the system are primarily driven by security, rather than humanitarian considerations, which makes consensus on any contentious issue very difficult to achieve, a fact highlighted in the third section of the present contribution. The conclusions discuss the limited scope of the latest attempt to overhaul the existing immigration framework, arguing that EU member states are still reluctant to transfer decision-making responsibilities to the supranational level regarding what they consider a matter crucial to their national sovereignty.