Reports and research

The securitization of the management of asylum and refuge applications by the EU in the face of the crisis as of 2015



"The securitization of the management of asylum and refuge applications by the European Union in the face of the migration crisis as of 2015", by the journalist and political scientist Meritxell Parramon Vilà, is the winning work of the XXI Century Europe Prize organized by the Banc Sabadell Foundation and the Catalunya Europa Foundation.

In it, the author maintains that the existing coordination mechanisms among the Member States to distribute the responsibilities of examining asylum applications have proved insufficient. The response offered by the European Union as of 2015 has reinforced the securitization trend of European immigration policy, especially asylum and refuge mechanisms, due to the implementation of reactive measures that have prioritized security and defense. This crisis has shown that, although the Schengen Agreement has been working to create a common European policy on migration, many decisions related to migration continue to become national, regardless of the harmonization instruments established since 1985, a fact that weakens the internal coherence and external credibility of the European project.