EU Immigration and Asylum Law and Policy Droit et Politique de l'Immigration et de l'Asile de l'UE

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SERIES OF BLOG POSTS ON MIGRATION AND TRADE PUBLISHED UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF PROF. ELSPETH GUILD

NUMBER 3

By Dr Maja Grundler, Royal Holloway University and Jean Monnet Professor ad personam & Elspeth Guild, Queen Mary University of London 

This series of blog posts on Trade & Migration is published upon the initiative of Prof. Elspeth Guild  in relation with the controversial proposal for a regulation on the scheme of preferences for developing countries that the Commission links to the issue of readmission of irregular migrants.

Coordination of EU objectives in different fields of activity should be beneficial to all areas of EU law. Where problems arise, they often result from the attempt by policy makers responsible for one area seeking to impose their objective(s) and concern(s) on another field. Nowhere is this more evident than in EU migration policy. Perceived failures in making EU law and policy in the area of irregular migration effective (let alone determining what effective means in this context) within the domains under the control of DG Migration and home affairs have resulted in officials seeking to force their objectives into other fields.

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SERIES OF BLOG POSTS ON MIGRATION AND TRADE PUBLISHED UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF PROF. ELSPETH GUILD

NUMBER 2

By Professor Elspeth Guild, Queen Mary University of London

This series of blog posts on Trade & Migration is published upon the initiative of Prof. Elspeth Guild  in relation with the controversial proposal for a regulation on the scheme of preferences for developing countries that the Commission links to the issue of readmission of irregular migrants.

Trade policy and tariffs are a fully exercised exclusive competence of the EU, but this does not mean that it is free to take action as it pleases without regard to its international obligations. The EU is a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) which is the sole international organisation dealing with multinational trade issues. The general principle of multinational trade agreements is to achieve smooth economic activity among states. They are generally based on the principle of the most favoured nation treatment and include removing or cutting customs duties on goods, scrapping limits (quotas) on goods to be exported, regulating access to provide services and to public contracts and reducing bureaucratic obstacles to trade.

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SERIES OF BLOG POSTS ON MIGRATION AND TRADE PUBLISHED UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF PROF. ELSPETH GUILD

NUMBER 1

By Geraldo Vidigal, Assistant professor at the Amsterdam Center for International Law

This series of blog posts on Trade & Migration is published upon the initiative of Prof. Elspeth Guild  in relation with the controversial proposal for a regulation on the scheme of preferences for developing countries that the Commission links to the issue of readmission of irregular migrants.

The European Commission proposed in 2021 to link EU trade preferences for developing and Least-Developed Countries (LDCs) to return and readmission of migrants by these countries. Following article 19 §1 of this proposal, “The preferential arrangements referred to in Article 1(2) may be withdrawn temporarily, in respect of all or of certain products originating in a beneficiary country, for any of the following reasons:

(c)  serious shortcomings in customs controls on the export or transit of drugs (illicit substances or precursors) or related to the obligation to readmit the beneficiary country’s own nationals or serious failure to comply with international conventions on antiterrorism or anti-money laundering.

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By  Susanna Lindroos-Hovinheimo

The obligation of national courts to seek preliminary reference from the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) is a long-debated topic. In EU law, it is framed as an issue with two players: a national court and Luxembourg. In recent case law, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has made it clear that it, too, has a say in the matter.

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By  Özlem Gürakar-Skribeland

The already-strong focus on return as a core policy of European migration management has intensified even further in recent years in connection with the so-called refugee crisis of 2015-2016, especially as it concerns forced return and return to transit countries. The reform of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) launched in 2016, the recast of the Return Directive initiated in 2018 and the New Pact on Migration and Asylum of 2020 all contain important elements in this regard.

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By Janna Wessels, assistant professor of migration law at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Research Associate at Giessen University

Policies of ‘planned destitution’ in the EU

The increased use of social and economic exclusion as a policy tool with a view to managing certain groups of ‘undesirable’ migrants is one of the major trends in European asylum and migration policy. While this already occurs under the current legislative framework, the most recent reform proposals tabled by the European Commission appear to tighten such policies.

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