European Union: Legal and Policy Framework of Migration Governance

This report aims at outlining the European Union’s legal & policy framework of migration governance. Therefore, it presents relevant statistical data as well as legislation and introduces to the socio-economic, political and cultural context. Further, the EU competences and frameworks as well as the legal status of foreigners are presented. In its sixth section the report presents the changes in policy and governance of migration caused by the “refugee crisis”. The EU attributes competence on asylum based on a body of regulations and jurisprudence of various origin, which are not directly binding on the EU but are binding on the MS and, therefore, indirectly also relevant for the European institutions. The obligation to comply with the constraints already arising from international law derives expressly from article 78 of the TFEU, under which the EU must develop a “common European asylum system” in accordance with the Geneva Convention (1951 convention and 1967 protocol), the principle of non-refoulement and other relevant treaties. EU law has, therefore, been grafted onto a body of internal and international rules, jurisprudence and practice, becoming a leading player of the right to asylum both on the continent of Europe and the international arena. The common European asylum system has the merit of having put together the various protections arising from international law on international protection through what we can term as “codification”. At the same time, it also represents a “progressive development”, both for the codification of the interpretations of how the Geneva Convention should evolve and the express inclusion in the European system of those cases other than the right of asylum which have not yet been independently and fully regulated at international level nor, often, at national level