EU’s Asylum Policy Towards Non-EU Nationals Between Theory and Practice: 2011 Refugee “Crisis” and its Effects on the European Internal Policies
EU’s Asylum Policy Towards Non-EU Nationals Between Theory and Practice: 2011 Refugee “Crisis” and its Effects on the European Internal Policies

Summary/Abstract: The refugee and asylum seekers are a reality the European Union member states cannot practically ignore. The unrest in Middle East and North Africa generated a population movement heading towards Europe. The geographical proximity and the facilitation of traveling made some countries, such as Greece, Italy and Malta targets of these people in need security. Although in almost all the documents issued the EU officials manifest preoccupation for the asylum policy and immigration process, both legal and illegal, EU member states face a dilemma between their obligations under Geneva Convention relating to the status of refugees and humanitarianism to grant asylum and protection to the victims of the Arab Spring and the internal pressures and challenges that rise from accepting refugees and granting them the rights that states committed themselves to. This paper aims to contribute to the specialized literature regarding the practices of the EU states concerning the refugees and asylum seekers in Europe. The main assumptions are that EU’s discourse regarding the asylum practices conflicts with the reality of actions taken by the EU in the last ten years. The second assumption is that the high influx of asylum-seekers and refugees has an impact on EU’s internal balance and solidarity. I will start by presenting the Lampedusa case as presented by international media and NGO’s, then I will continue with the theoretical grounds of the outside EU migration, refugees and asylum- seeking practices and followed by the review of the EU legislation on asylum and immigration applied to Lampedusa case and so-called Lampedusa refugee crisis. In the end, I will try to see if a practical common immigration and asylum policy in the EU is both viable and desirable.

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