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11 Consolidating the fortress Europe: Conceptualizations of solidarity in the EU Asylum System governance post-2015

  • Alexandra Bousiou and Linnea Schleyer
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The EU under Strain?
This chapter is in the book The EU under Strain?

Abstract

Over the last decade, the construction of a crisis narrative has continued consolidating the idea of a “fortress Europe” at the expense of access and the right to asylum in the EU. In this chapter, we embark on an analysis of how a series of crises and their management has been affecting EU asylum policies, and more specifically how the discursive construction of solidarity, a cornerstone of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU and a core value of international asylum law, has been evolving within these policies. Our analysis demonstrates how the governance of asylum in the EU has shifted towards more restriction and less solidarity both with refugees and amongst Member States in the context of emergency management. We focus on the shifting perspectives on solidarity between 2015 and 2022 and trace how the concept of solidarity continues to evolve in the European governance of asylum. The analysis culminates in a discussion of the Temporary Protection Directive, the recent activation of which has once more shed light on different EU actors’ and member states’ answers to the question of who deserves solidarity in the EU and for how long, illuminating important aspects of racial discrimination and temporariness.

Abstract

Over the last decade, the construction of a crisis narrative has continued consolidating the idea of a “fortress Europe” at the expense of access and the right to asylum in the EU. In this chapter, we embark on an analysis of how a series of crises and their management has been affecting EU asylum policies, and more specifically how the discursive construction of solidarity, a cornerstone of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU and a core value of international asylum law, has been evolving within these policies. Our analysis demonstrates how the governance of asylum in the EU has shifted towards more restriction and less solidarity both with refugees and amongst Member States in the context of emergency management. We focus on the shifting perspectives on solidarity between 2015 and 2022 and trace how the concept of solidarity continues to evolve in the European governance of asylum. The analysis culminates in a discussion of the Temporary Protection Directive, the recent activation of which has once more shed light on different EU actors’ and member states’ answers to the question of who deserves solidarity in the EU and for how long, illuminating important aspects of racial discrimination and temporariness.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Table of Contents v
  3. List of authors ix
  4. Part I: Contextualising the EU and crises
  5. 1 Introduction: The EU under strain 1
  6. 2 Polity attacks and policy failures: The EU polycrisis and integration theory 27
  7. Part II: The legal and democratic fundaments of the EU
  8. 3 Crisis-driven EU reforms in and beyond treaty limits: Is it time for a treaty change? 51
  9. 4 What happened to the idea of ‘Ever Closer Union’? Differentiation as a persistent feature of European integration 77
  10. 5 The difficulty of upholding the rule of law across the European Union: The case of Poland as an illustration of problems the European Union is facing 95
  11. 6 Representation in polycrisis: Towards a new research agenda for EU citizens 115
  12. Part III: The EU in a changing world
  13. 7 After the deluge: Europe, the European Union and crisis in the world arena 133
  14. 8 EU enlargement in times of crisis: Strategic enlargement, the conditionality principle and the future of the “Ever-Closer Union” 155
  15. 9 The EU after Brexit: EU-UK relations and the latent crisis of withdrawal 173
  16. 10 A strained partnership? A typology of tensions in the EU-US transatlantic relationship 191
  17. Part IV: European policy fields shaped by crisis
  18. 11 Consolidating the fortress Europe: Conceptualizations of solidarity in the EU Asylum System governance post-2015 211
  19. 12 EU Health: From pandemic crisis management to a European Health Union? 233
  20. 13 Leader or laggard? Diversity and minority rights in a union under strain 253
  21. 14 The slow-burning climate emergency and the European Green Deal: Prospects and pitfalls in the polycrisis era 275
  22. 15 European economic governance in times of crisis: Solidarity, responsibility, and legitimacy in EU debt mutualisation 293
  23. Index 319
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110790337-012

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Table of Contents v
  3. List of authors ix
  4. Part I: Contextualising the EU and crises
  5. 1 Introduction: The EU under strain 1
  6. 2 Polity attacks and policy failures: The EU polycrisis and integration theory 27
  7. Part II: The legal and democratic fundaments of the EU
  8. 3 Crisis-driven EU reforms in and beyond treaty limits: Is it time for a treaty change? 51
  9. 4 What happened to the idea of ‘Ever Closer Union’? Differentiation as a persistent feature of European integration 77
  10. 5 The difficulty of upholding the rule of law across the European Union: The case of Poland as an illustration of problems the European Union is facing 95
  11. 6 Representation in polycrisis: Towards a new research agenda for EU citizens 115
  12. Part III: The EU in a changing world
  13. 7 After the deluge: Europe, the European Union and crisis in the world arena 133
  14. 8 EU enlargement in times of crisis: Strategic enlargement, the conditionality principle and the future of the “Ever-Closer Union” 155
  15. 9 The EU after Brexit: EU-UK relations and the latent crisis of withdrawal 173
  16. 10 A strained partnership? A typology of tensions in the EU-US transatlantic relationship 191
  17. Part IV: European policy fields shaped by crisis
  18. 11 Consolidating the fortress Europe: Conceptualizations of solidarity in the EU Asylum System governance post-2015 211
  19. 12 EU Health: From pandemic crisis management to a European Health Union? 233
  20. 13 Leader or laggard? Diversity and minority rights in a union under strain 253
  21. 14 The slow-burning climate emergency and the European Green Deal: Prospects and pitfalls in the polycrisis era 275
  22. 15 European economic governance in times of crisis: Solidarity, responsibility, and legitimacy in EU debt mutualisation 293
  23. Index 319
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