Asylum in the EU: One of the Many Faces of Rule of Law Backsliding?

Evangelia (Lilian) Tsourdi

doi:10.1017/s1574019621000250

Abstract

EU values – Rule of law backsliding – Rule of law and fundamental rights interrelation – Refugee protection – Common European Asylum System – Implementation gap in asylum – Lack of fair responsibility sharing in asylum – Structural deficiencies in national asylum systems – Defiance of asylum obligations and the duty of sincere cooperation – Systemic fundamental rights violations – Upholding the rule of law – European Asylum System redesign – Systemic infringement actions – Rule of law monitoring

Highlights

The shared values of fundamental rights, democracy and the rule of law are understood as the bedrock of European societies
Recent years have seen the e.g. Regulation (EU) plagued by populism, exclusionary nationalist discourses, racism and xenophobia
A deeper understanding as to the scope and content of the EU rule of law can be gained through scrutinising its interrelation with fundamental rights

Summary

Migration and the Rule of Law

I : The shared values of fundamental rights, democracy and the rule of law are understood as the bedrock of European societies. Fundamental rights violations in some member states have been characterised as systemic or reaching the level of a humanitarian emergency.10 These two problems relate to the internal dimension of the EU asylum policy. Violeta Moreno-Lax has argued, though, that in the more recent chapters of the process of EU’s constitutionalisation, in priming ‘autonomy’ as an end in itself, the EU has reached a point of axiological vacuum which poses problems of legitimacy and is contrary to the rule of law itself.38 Beyond these initial indicia, a deeper understanding as to the scope and content of the EU rule of law can be gained through scrutinising its interrelation with fundamental rights

The interrelation between the rule of law and fundamental rights

The rule of law as an analytical lens of asylum failings