The French Presidency’s European Pact on Immigration and Asylum: Intergovernmentalism vs Europeanisation? Security vs Rights? CEPS Policy Briefs. No. 170, 11 September 2008

The intersection between the Commission Communication on a Common Immigration Policy for Europe, another on a Policy Plan on Asylum and the various drafts of the French Presidency’s European Pact on Immigration and Asylum, raises a number of questions: First, what are the nature, context and key issues of the Pact? Does it present anything really new to the current state of affairs in EU law and policy? Second, does the EU really need a pact on immigration and asylum, given the already ongoing processes of Europeanisation surrounding these policy domains? And third, are the EU interests and the Commission’s priorities fully compatible with the logic driving the Pact, or does it represent a competing model between ‘more Europe’ and the principle of subsidiarity and security versus rights in the area of immigration, borders and asylum