Managing migration and asylum in Europe : three proposals for Europe 2020

Asylum is a common concern for both Northern and Southern European countries, although they look at the problem from different perspectives. Southern countries are in fact exposed to pressures of irregular migration and asylum seeking because of their geographical proximity to zones of instability and conflict and have to find ways to effectively filter mixed flows, providing international protection to those who need it and managing irregular migration. On the other hand, Northern European countries are more “protected” from irregular migration because of their geographical position but have been traditionally the preferred destinations of asylum seekers and hence face mostly the problem of properly processing applications rather than that of filtering them at their borders. There is an important gap, though, in the asylum acquis that needs to be addressed. While rejections are valid throughout the EU, hence if a member state rejects the application of an asylum seeker s/he cannot apply in another member state, positive decisions do not provide for an EU status nor member states are obliged to recognize such decisions. This policy brief presents the challenge and proposes three actions to address the issue.