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

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Cet article est le fruit d’une collaboration entre ECLAN (European Criminal law Academic Network) et Odysseus Academic Network en l’honneur du 10ème anniversaire d’ECLAN. ECLAN célébrera son anniversaire par une conférence au printemps 2016.

Co-rédigé par Anne Weyembergh et Chloé Brière, ECLAN 
Henri Labayle, GDR-ELSJ 
Philippe de Bruycker, Migration Policy Centre, European University Institute 
et David Watt, Odysseus Network OMNIA Project 

Directement après les attaques terroristes du 13 novembre à Paris, le Président français a déclaré l’état d’urgence et a annoncé l’introduction de mesures visant à « mobiliser toutes les forces possibles afin de neutraliser les terroristes et de garantir la sécurité de tous les lieux qui pourraient être visés ». Parmi ces mesures se trouve la réintroduction des contrôles aux frontières avec les autres États de l’espace Schengen dans le but de prévenir l’entrée sur le territoire d’individus dangereux qui cherchent à commettre des attaques terroristes ainsi que d’empêcher les assaillants de fuir.

Néanmoins, Salah Abdeslam, le cerveau présumé des attaques, a réussi à s’enfuir en traversant la frontière entre la France et la Belgique dans la nuit du vendredi au samedi sans être appréhendé, et il n’a toujours pas été arrêté depuis, malgré les importants moyens déployés par les forces de police belges et françaises. Plus surprenant, bien que relativement ignoré par les médias, est le fait qu’il ait été contrôlé par la police française dans la région frontalière (près de la ville de Cambrai) sans être arrêté. Comment cela a-t-il pu se produire au cœur de l’UE où les garde-frontières, la police, les juges et les services de renseignement aidés par des moyens technologiques modernes suivent en permanence de tels individus ? Continue reading »

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by Kees Groenendijk, Radboud University  and Boldizsar Nagy, Central European University    

The Hungarian Parliament adopts an Act calling for a review of the legality of Council Decision (EU) 2015/1601

Earlier this year, Hungary decided to free itself from the arrival of asylum seekers by erecting a fence at its external border and curtailing the refugees’ rights, as reported in an earlier blog entry. Its more recent decision, attacking the relocation system as enshrined in Council Decision (EU) 2015/1601, targets solidarity among EU Member States and may have wider repercussions if considered in context. Continue reading »

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by Jean-Baptiste Farcy, Research and Communication Assistant for the OMNIA Project

Turkey, a historical land where the East is said to meet the West, is the only country separating war-torn Syria and Iraq from the external borders of the EU. The Turkish coast is just a stone’s throw away from the Greek Dodecanese Islands, which have become, for many refugees, the port of entry into the EU. It is therefore no surprise that Turkey, due to its geographical position, has a key role to play in managing the current refugee crisis. Turkey knows it is a key player on this issue and now the EU arguably needs Turkey more than Turkey needs the EU. Yet, the question is: how will Turkey stem the flow? Continue reading »

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by Valeria Ilareva, Foundation for Access to Rights – FAR  

In order to transpose the recast Reception Conditions Directive 2013/33/EU, Bulgaria amended its national asylum law to introduce detention of asylum seekers for the first time as of 1 January 2016. Until now, the Bulgarian legislation has not formally envisaged detention of asylum seekers, but in practice, asylum seekers have been detained as irregular immigrants. Detention currently happens under the Return Directive 2008/115/EC prior to giving asylum seekers access to the asylum procedure. Therefore, the new detention regime under the asylum law (Directive 2013/33) will complement the period of detention of asylum seekers, which starts to run under the regime of immigration law (Directive 2008/115). The focus of this article is the differentiation and interaction between the two distinct legal regimes of detention of persons who seek asylum. Continue reading »

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by Evelien Brouwer, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam 

The current arrival of large numbers of refugees and migrants to Europe is an important test of European states’ capability to cooperate and to apply shared rules of asylum and migration law based on the principles of solidarity and mutual trust. ‘Dublin’ and ‘Schengen’ are two important mechanisms of this cooperation which seem no longer self-evident. Since September 2015, EU Member States including Slovenia, Germany, Hungary, Austria and the Netherlands reintroduced or reinforced border controls at the internal borders of the Schengen area. Continue reading »

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by Boldizsár Nagy, Central European University  

Hungary has lost touch with reality in several ways in recent months. It pretends people arriving into Europe are not refugees. It acts as if any EU Member State can free itself from the obligations flowing from international and EU law. It behaves as if its words and deeds were in harmony. This entry will look at the legislative changes of recent months in Hungary as well as at the discursive attitudes of the dominant political forces. Continue reading »