Towards a Reformed European Asylum System: From Irregular to Controlled Migration
Europe’s asylum policies continue to be a source of political conflict and polarization. In view of their many undesired outcomes this is not surprising. Countless people die while trying to reach Europe; it enables dictators such as Erdogan, Lukashenko and Putin to exert pressure on the European Union; and asylum flows are biased towards those who are young, male, able-bodied, and with sufficient resources to pay the fees of human traffickers. Referring to data on asylum migration and integration in Europe since 2015, I argue that the key reason for these problems is that (with very few exceptions) the only way in which people can receive protection in the EU is by crossing a European border or reaching European waters. For many of the most needy refugees, the difficulties, costs and dangers of this journey constitute insurmountable barriers. At the same time, a substantial part of those who do enter the EU and claim asylum are not granted refugee status, but can nonetheless only rarely be returned to countries of transit or origin. The paper proposes an alternative to the current system, based on agreements with transit and origin countries following the principle of “migration for migration”. A combination of generous refugee contingents taken up directly from crisis regions; humanitarian visa; new avenues for labor migration; and extra-territorialization of asylum procedures can deliver both more security and justice for refugees, and better outcomes in terms of integration and political legitimacy.
Professor Dr. Ruud Koopmans
Ruud Koopmans is Research Director at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center and Professor of Sociology and Migration Research at Humboldt University Berlin. His research focuses on migration and integration, religious fundamentalism and extremism, and majority and minority rights. His most recent books deal with the crisis of the Islamic world (Das verfallene Haus des Islam; CH Beck, 2020; also translated into Dutch, Danish and Norwegian); the tension between majority and minority rights (Majorities, Minorities, and the Future of Nationhood, with Liav Orgad, Cambridge University Press, 2022); and European refugee policies (Die Asyl-Lotterie; CH Beck 2023, also translated into Dutch and Danish).