CEPS | 01.02.2017

The humanitarian refugee crisis in Europe of 2015-2016 has revealed several unfinished elements and shortcomings in current EU policies and approaches to migration, asylum and borders, particularly those applying in southern EU maritime borders and frontier states in the Mediterranean. This book provides a critical examination of the main issues and lessons learned from this crisis and gives an up-to-date assessment of the main policy, legal and institutional responses that have been put in place at the EU level. It further examines the extent to which these responses can be expected to work under the current system of sharing responsibilities among EU member states in assessing asylum applications and ensuring a consistent implementation of EU legal standards that comply with the rule of law and fundamental rights.

This report is based on original research and draws upon the existing literature, along with the discussions of a CEPS Task Force that met over six months, under the chairmanship of Enrico Letta, President of the Jacques Delors Institute, Dean of the Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA) at Sciences Po and former Prime Minister of Italy. The rapporteurs offer specific recommendations and possible scenarios for policy optimisation and assess the extent to which the establishment of a European Border and Asylum Service (EBAS) could address the current gaps and challenges in EU and member states’ migration policies.

Sergio Carrera is Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Justice and Home Affairs section at CEPS, Visiting Professor at the Paris School of International Affairs (PISA) at Sciences Po, Associate Professor/Senior Research Fellow at the University of Maastricht and Honorary Industry Professor and Senior Research Fellow at the School of Law at Queen Mary, University of London. Steven Blockmans is Senior Research Fellow and Head of EU Foreign Policy at CEPS. Jean-Pierre Cassarino is Research Associate at the Tunis-based Institut de Recherche sur le Maghreb Contemporain (IRMC). Daniel Gros is Director of CEPS. Elspeth Guild is Associate Senior Research Fellow at CEPS and Jean Monnet Professor ad personam at Queen Mary, University of London as well as at Radboud University Nijmegen.