No Economic Migrants, Only “Real” Refugees: France’s Conditional Solidarity with the EU
No Economic Migrants, Only “Real” Refugees: France’s Conditional Solidarity with the EU

Author(s): Nathan Dufour
Subject(s): Governance, International relations/trade, Migration Studies, EU-Legislation, Asylum, Refugees, Migration as Policy-fields
Published by: PISM Polski Instytut Spraw Międzynarodowych
Keywords: European Union; mass migration; migration crisis; economic migrants; refugees; asylum seekers; France; EU’s return policy;
Summary/Abstract: In absolute numbers, France has been relatively spared by the large increase in asylum requests in 2014–2015 in comparison with other EU countries. However, tensions in the country regarding the potential for integration of the refugees has led to general agreement among the main political parties for the need to halt inflows of so-called economic migrants. This indicates, that France will seek to limit its recent declaration of support for solidarity towards asylum seekers, notably by enforcing the EU’s return policy.

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