The unbearable ‘lightness’ of soft law: on the European Union’s recourse to informal instruments in the fight against illegal immigration

There are serious concerns that the informal approach gives rise to, especially in light of the practice that has recently emerged in the management of the so-called ‘refugee crisis’ (which, as is known, erupted in 2015). Indeed, in fighting illegal immigration, the EU has ample recourse to atypical instruments that are declaredly non-binding on the EU or on the subjects of EU law. This contribution is in the first place concerned with reconstructing this informal practice so as to then outline the way its institutional ramifications – of systemic breadth – affect the supranational legal order