Reforming the Common European Asylum System. Opportunities, Pitfalls, and Downsides of the Commission Proposals for a New Pact on Migration and Asylum

Cover
Never-Ending Story? Political Dynamics, Legislative Uncertainties, and Practical Drawbacks of the ‘New’ Pact on Migration and Asylum
	1. Overarching Enquiries
	2. European Realpolitik: Respecting ‘Red Lines’
	3. Dead or Alive? Political Stalemate over the Legislative Proposals
	4. Breaking the Deadlock through ‘Mini-Deals’ and Majority-Voting?
	5. ‘Screening Light’: Hardly a Novelty
	6. Agencies: Refraining from ‘More Europe’
	7. Border Procedures: Administrative Bottleneck
	8. Accommodation: ‘Closed’ or ‘Controlled’ Centres?
	9. Hotspots Reloaded: Another Moria?
	10. Conclusion: The Alternative is not the Status Quo
The New Pact on Migration and Asylum: What it is Not and What it Could Have Been
	1. Not a Long-Term Programmatic Document
	2. Not a Document Expressing a New Consensus
	3. What it Could Have Been
	4. Conclusion
Into the Loop: The Doomed Reform of Dublin and Solidarity in the New Pact
	1. Introduction
	2. “Hello Old Friend”: The Dublin System’s New Clothes
	3. Border Procedures and Dublin
	4. “Mandatory” and “Flexible” Solidarity under the New Mechanism
	5. Framing Force Majeure or Inviting Defection?
	6. Concluding Comments
Border Control and the Right to Liberty in the Pact: A False Promise of ‘Certainty, Clarity and Decent Conditions’?
	1. Introduction
	2. Detention, Freedom of Movement and the Pact: An Overview
		a) Screening
		b) Asylum Border Procedure
		c) Return Border Procedures
		d) Detention in the Recast Return Directive
		e) Detention and Freedom of Movement in Asylum and Transfer Procedures
		f) Derogation in Times of Crisis
	3. Fundamental Rights Compliance
		a) Containment at External Borders and De Facto Detention
		b) Accommodation at the Borders and Hotspots: A “System to Match the Scale of the Challenge”?
	4. Conclusions
Pre-Screening at the Border in the Asylum and Migration Pact: A Paradigm Shift for Asylum, Return and Detention Policies?
	1. Novelties of the Proposal or Re-Decoration of Existing Practices?
	2. Are Asylum Seekers no Longer a Privileged Group of Migrants in Europe?
	3. Potential Legal Problems of the Proposed Measures
		a) Mere Information Gathering that Substantially Affects the Status and Rights of the Person?
		b) Exploitation of Security Information and the ECtHR Approach
		c) Position of Vulnerable Persons Less Predictable?
		d) Inconsistencies with other Instruments on Reception Conditions
		e) Prevention of Absconding without Detention? Mission (Im)possible?
	4. Implementation Practicalities of Proposed Measures
	5. Greater Role for the EU Agencies not Developed?
	6. Concluding Remarks
Border Procedure on Asylum and Return: Closing the Control Gap by Restricting Access to Protection?
	1. Introduction
	2. Closing the Gap: Management of Mixed Migration Flows
	3. Novelties in the Amended Proposal for an Asylum Procedure Regulation
	4. Expanding the Criteria for Accelerated Examination of Asylum Applications
	5. Inadmissibility Decisions in the Border Procedure
	6. Appeal and Suspensive Effect in the Asylum Border Procedure
	7. Merging Border Procedures? Preliminary Conclusions
The New Pact and EU Agencies: A Tale of Two Tracks of Administrative Integration and Unsatisfactory Embedding
	1. The Two Tracks of Administrative Cooperation and EU Agencies’ Novel Functions
	2. EU Agencies’ Legal Mandates and the Pact: Nothing New under the Sun?
	3. The New Pact and EU Agencies: What Way Forward for Administrative Cooperation?
		a) The Commission Communication: Proclaiming the Importance of EU Agencies in Administrative Cooperation
		b) The Pact Legal Instruments: No Adequate Reflection of Policy Ambition
			aa) Border Procedure: Unsatisfactory Embedding of EU Agencies’ Existing Roles and Current Administrative Realities
			bb) Return Sponsorships: Embedding the Two-Track Approach to Administrative Cooperation
	4. Concluding Remarks
Secondary Movements: Improving Compliance and Building Trust among the Member States?
	1. EU Asylum Reform: Two Competing Narratives
	2. Driving Forces behind Secondary Movements
	3. Implications for the Reform Debate
	4. Family Life: Recognising an Essential Motivation
	5. ‘Other Carrots’: Incentivising Compliance
	6. Streamlined Procedures
	7. ‘Sticks’: Sanctioning Disrespect for EU Rules
	8. Continuation of the Status Quo: Transfer of Jurisdiction
	9. Conclusion: Overcoming the Vicious Circle
Immediate Protection in the New Pact on Migration and Asylum: A Viable Substitute for Temporary Protection?
	1. Introduction
	2. Activation Mechanism
	3. Eligibility Criteria for Receiving Protection
	4. Rights of the Protected Persons
	5. Access to International Protection Procedures and Time Limits
	6. Conclusion
Towards a Thousand Little Morias: The EU (Non-)Rescue Scheme - Criminalising Solidarity, Structuralising Defection
	1. Introduction: Saving Lives by Pre-empting Arrivals
	2. Background: A ‘Crisis’ of our Own Making
	3. The ‘New’ Common European Approach to Search and Rescue
		a) Normalising Disengagement
		b) Policing Humanitarianism
		c) (Not Entirely De-)Criminalising Humanitarian Assistance
	4. Disembarkation and Relocation
		a) Compulsory Solidarity?
		b) Limitless Defection Possibilities
		c) From Win-Win to Lose-Lose Outcomes
	5. Concluding Remarks: Towards a Thousand Little Morias
The Future Architecture of the EU’s Return System Following the Pact on Asylum and Migration: Added Value and Shortcomings
	1. Introduction – The Evolution of the EU’s Return System Reform
	2. ‘Effective’ Returns as the Main Driving Force for the Reform of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS)
	3. The Pact’s New Architecture of the EU’s Return System
		a) Reinforcing the EU’s Role on Returns Coordination
		b) Extending the Links between Asylum and Returns Policies
		c) Accelerating Returns: Mandatory Border Procedure as the New’Normal’
		d) A New Form of Solidarity: Return Sponsorship and Relocation of Returnees/ Return Sponsorship as Redistribution of Solidarity
		e) The Promotion of Assisted Voluntary Return Programmes: Challenges for Voluntariness and Non-Refoulement
	4. Conclusion: Diminished Judicial Control, Policy Fragmentation and Questionable Efficiency
The Pitfalls of Migration Diplomacy: The EU Pact and Relations with Third Countries
	1. The EU’s Image as regards Fundamental Rights and Migration/Asylum
	2. The International Relations Problem
	3. The Difficulty of Delivering Benefits
	4. Conclusions
EU Cooperation with Third Countries within the New Pact on Migration and Asylum: New Instruments for a ‘Change of Paradigm’?
	1. Introduction
	2. A ‘Change of Paradigm’ in Cooperation with Partner Countries?
	3. Assessing the Instruments in the ‘Toolbox’: What’s New, What’s Missing, What’s in Excess?
		a) What is New?
		b) What is Missing?
		c) What is in Excess?
	4. Concluding Remarks
Financial Aspects of the EU's New Pact on Migration and Asylum: Towards Stronger EU-Funded Policy Implementation?
	1. Introduction
	2. EU Migration and Asylum Policies in the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework
	3. Financial Implications of the Migration Pact
		a) Financial Implications of Screening Procedures
		b) Financial Implications of Border Procedures
		c) Financial Incentives for Solidarity: EU Budgetary Plans for Relocations
	4. Concluding Remarks: The Impact of Financial Costs on the Implementation of the Migration Pact
Political Agreement on a Recast Asylum Reception Conditions Directive: Continuation of Tents, Containment and Discipline?
	1. Background and Choice of Instrument
	2. Scope: What about the Screening Procedure?
	3. Material Reception Conditions: The End of Tents?
		a) Definition of Material Reception Conditions
		b) The Unclear but Relevant ‘Dignified Standard of Treatment’
	4. Emphasis on Residence Restrictions: Continuation of Containment Policies
	5. Labour Market: Earlier Access but More Exclusions
	6. Reduction and Withdrawal: Disciplining Asylum Seekers
	7. Better Protection of (Unaccompanied) Children
		a) Concept of Vulnerability Deleted
		b) Representatives for Unaccompanied Minors
		c) Access to Education
	8. Conclusions
Labour Migration in the ‘New Pact’: Modesty or Unease in the Berlaymont?
	1. New Instruments or More of the Same?
	2. Unresolved Contradictions and Dilemmas behind the EU Labour Migration Policy
Integration in the New Pact on Migration and Asylum: A Key Element of a Successful Migration Policy, but no EU Legislative Competence
	1. Introduction
	2. Previous Efforts to Promote Integration
	3. Chapter 8 of the New Pact on Migration and Asylum: Integration of Migrants Should Lead to More Inclusive Societies
	4. Action Plan on Integration and Inclusion 2021-2027
	5. EU Competence to Legislate
	6. EU Efforts to Foster Integration and the Global Compact On Migration
	7. Conclusions