95 / 150
95
Although refugee and asylum policy has been
repeatedly at the top of the European Union’s
agenda for over 15 years, it never carried as
much political weight as in 2015 and early
2016, when over a million people suddenly en-
tered EU member states.
Starting from a crisis situation
In late 2015, the so-called refugee crisis, which
should better be termed a crisis of European
refugee policy, led to unprecedented political
polarisation between the member states and
deadlock in negotiations between the European
institutions. This may have manifested itself in
the form of disputes about the (mandatory) dis-
tribution of refugees among the member states,
but there was a deep underlying ideological
disagreement about the question of EU compe-
tences in the area of refugee and migration
policy and the direction of future policy.
Ultimately Europe was divided over ethical, legal
and political responsibility towards refugees and
asylum seekers. The current crisis in EU refugee
policy is also rightly seen as a crisis of solidarity
and shared responsibility among member states.
As a genuine crisis, it involves the risk of further
division of interests, renationalisation and an in-
creasing drop in levels of solidarity regarding the
issue of refugees in Europe. However, it also im-
plies an opportunity to rethink and refocus on
the basic principles of human rights and the val-
ues of the European Union.
The current situation of conflict and dead-
lock between member states, and between
states and supranational bodies, gives little
grounds to hope for a refugee policy that is
more proactive rather than reactive (Mayer/
Mehregani, 2016), more long-term rather than
ad hoc, and more consistent rather than frag-
mented (Pascouau, 2016). It may be possible to
resolve it through a “two-speed” or “multi-
speed” Europe, with appropriate incentives for
countries that by and by participate in a distri-
bution mechanism based on solidarity. Another
option is a division of tasks (“job-sharing”),
where the countries on the external borders
permanently act as a hub for admitting, redi-
recting and returning possible refugees, while
states in the centre and the north work more
with integration. In view of the upcoming elec-
tions in important member states and a grow-
ing polarisation of public opinion, stronger
EU refugee policy
in crisis
Petra Bendel