Migration and asylum policy of the European Union

Migration policy of the European Union has its roots in the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees,[2] an agreement founded on Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

They are obliged to preserve the rights and freedoms of internally displaced persons and refugees, but at the same time monitor the creation of such a legal provision that is used by all foreigners who have arrived in a foreign country on a common basis[6] In order to regulate and control the high number of migrants as a result of the migration crisis in 2015, the EU annually directs its efforts to develop an effective European migration policy.

[8] The creation of a migration policy and its functioning is based on the collection of data about the current state of affairs, in particular the statistics of the number of legal and illegal migrants who have crossed the borders of the European Union.

[15] It will compel member states to more evenly share the cost and efforts of hosting migrants and reform European Union asylum and border security procedures, among other provisions.

[24] A group of human rights organizations including Oxfam, Caritas, Amnesty International, and Save the Children have criticised the deal in an open letter stating that it would create a "cruel system".

[26][27] The pact resulted in the following legislation:[28] Since 1999, refugees entering Europe have been subject to the laws in place in accordance with the Common European Asylum System (CEAS).

In the event of a mass influx of displaced persons from non-EU countries, this directive gives the European Union authority to provide immediate and temporary protection.

Following an unprecedented migrant influx, EASO in 2015 proposed a relocation programme that was agreed upon to support the ‘frontline’ Member States of Italy and Greece, who were under pressure.

Based on the data published by UNHCR, as a result of hostilities in Syria, almost 22% of the country's population (with estimated of 4 million people) turned out to be refugees and internally displaced persons by the beginning of 2015.

However, according to critics, the decline in migration occurred due to the fact that people emigrated in large number to Greece before the adoption of a new EU-Turkey agreement.

[60] As a result of the crisis, fears have been increasing among the EU population, including the fear of Islamization through exerting pressure (politically or through acts of Islamic terrorism) to impose social, moral, legal as well as cultural norms of Islam at the expense of the local ones, but also the fear of a parallel society emerging along the indigenous one, in the form of turning entire neighborhoods into so-called no-go areas resisting any forms of linguistic or cultural integration into the host society and attempting to replace the national law and its enforcement with some informal own legal norms enforced through militias.

[61] Such sentiments have arisen not only due to existence of areas like Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, but also due to a sharp increase in attacks attributed to jihadists in the European Union (their number rose from four attacks in 2014 to seventeen in 2015, while the number of people killed increased from four to 150),[62] but also to some other events such as the 2015–16 New Year's Eve sexual assaults in Germany which were unrelated to terrorism but nevertheless shocked the public as an open and widespread demonstration by Muslim refugees of disregard for European social norms, as did also attempts by some imams in Germany to excuse such behaviour and shift the blame to the victims instead, while the ensuing (and later exposed) concerted effort of the authorities and the media to cover up the events, their extent and the ethnicity of the perpetrators, seriously undermined public trust in reporting on ethnically sensitive topics in Germany and entire EU by the mainstream media.

As an obvious consequence, some politicians attempt to capitalize on these fears, or even reinforce them, by voicing opposition against reception of migrants, under the justification that the public security and protection of the state and its citizens against Islamic terrorism in Europe must be given precedecence, but also due to economic, social, cultural and religious risk posed by uncontrolled migration.

At the summit held in Brussels on October 19, 2017, it was indicated that the approach of the EU Member States and institutions to ensure full control over the borders should be consolidated.

As a consequence, the EU has been blamed for numerous deaths at sea by preventing humanitarian NGOs search and rescue efforts, thus allegedly contradicting its declarations of good will towards refugees and migrants.

Moreover, the conclusions of the European Council have indicated its readiness to respond and suppress any attempts to illegally cross the borders of EU Member States, e.g. through expulsion of asylum applicants into neighbouring countries such as Ukraine,[66] Turkey or Russia, where the system to recognize refugee status is often faulty.

Moreover, pessimistic forecasts have sometimes been voiced that the applicability of these restrictions, currently limited to migrants, could be only a prelude to possible wider extension aiming to make the indigenous EU population also subjected to them in the future.

Following the severe deterioration in Belarus–European Union relations, Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko threatened around July 7, 2021 to "flood" the EU with human traffickers, drug smugglers, and armed migrants.

Social media groups were additionally offering fraudulent advice on the rules of crossing the border to the prospective migrants, most of whom were trying to reach Germany.

After an attempted relocation of asylum procedures in centres on the boundaries of the EU, in 2003 these policies have resulted in a proliferation of exile camps in and around the European Union, a pressure on neighbouring countries to develop systems that consider applications for asylum in their territories, and a radicalisation of antimigratory policies in neighbouring countries and within the border of the European Union.

[81] The European Union has agreed aid packages with a number of countries in return for externalization or cooperation in preventing illegal immigration to the EU.

Number of asylum applications in 2023[88] Neither the readmission system under the Dublin Regulation nor the temporary relocation mechanism for refugees according to quotas proved its worth in all countries of the European Union.

[91] In the autumn of 2015, the Czech Republic, together with Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, voted against the compulsory admission of refugees assigned according to relocation quotas.

[92] Spokesperson of the president of Czech Republic Miloš Zeman commented that: "Our country simply cannot afford to risk terrorist attacks like those that occurred in France and Germany.

[68] The 2015 European migrant crisis, which brought with it over a million refugees escaping war, political instability, and poverty, accentuated the shortcomings of the existing system and made evident the need for reform.

The unequal distribution of the bureaucratic burden amongst different member states produced situations that demonstrated that the CEAS, as it stood, was not sufficient or adequate.

[107][108] Decisions on the migration crisis are formulated in the final documents of the European Council, adopted on February 18, March 7 and 18, 2016, which can be grouped in three major areas:[109][110][111] Firstly, the EU has provided financial and expert support, to countries that have accepted the main migration flow, in particular Greece, which will facilitate the provision of humanitarian assistance to refugees, the observance of administrative procedures for border control and the processing of asylum requests in accordance with the rules EU.

Reception centers are being set up, where newly arrived migrants will pass a quick check and will be divided into those whose asylum requests can be considered, and those for whom the further path is closed.

The resettlement of refugees in the Schengen Area took into account such economic and demographic indicators as GDP, population, unemployment rate and the number of already considered asylum applications in countries that are members of the European Union.

[21] Rafał Gaweł from Poland, who had been sentenced to two years' imprisonment for alleged financial fraud, was given political asylum in Norway on 30 September 2020 on the grounds of a lack of the possibility of a fair trial, the lack of Polish authorities' control of extreme-right militias, and the criminal case against him appearing to constitute political persecution by Polish authorities.