Reconceiving European migration policy : the EU between ambitions and challenges

Abstract

Given the current context of migration crises, the question of how the EU relates to migration has been generally asked in the field of refugee rights and asylum seekers; that of its policy in terms of legal immigration is however less frequent. This paper aims at providing an analysis beyond the emergency answer to migration flows and focuses on the general migration legal order to which European Member States belong. Considering them as major integration parameters, we will illustrate States’ migration competences through the lens of Access to Territory, Education and Labour for third-country nationals. This overview will allow us to further explore the evolution and perspectives of the policy making processes in Europe. It will also provide us with an understanding of how migration is currently perceived and translated into political decisions by European Member States. After this in-depth overview, the current and foreseeable Human Rights impacts of migration regimes will be assessed. We will argue that legal immigration requirements, increasingly difficult to reach, combined with a growing restrictiveness on illegal migration hardly fit with a dignified treatment of people. Therefore, theories for a different conception of migration issues and towards more flexible policies will be discussed, both for reconciling the EU with its fundamental values and for paving the way towards a sustainable response to the growing migration movements shaping our globalized societies.