EU States and the Refugee Crisis in the Former the Yugoslavia

Abstract

The response of European Union (EU) st&fes regarding refugees from the foiher Yugoslavia should be consider& in light of recent developments that have led to burden-shifting arrangements. These arrangements have followed the large increase of refugee claims in western Europe during the 1980s which resulted in overburdened national refugee determination procedures. EU states have been particularly interested in improving the control of refugee flows before the evolving union eliminates internal barriers to freedom of movement.' Since these states recognize that the ending of internal border controls greatly limits their national competence over immigration, they have been seeking agreement on common criteria to regulate the entry of foreigners. The main concern is to prevent freedom of movement from increasing illegal activities such as drug trafficking, organized crime and terrorism. Irregular migrations have also been associated to these types of criminal activities as a common policy of deterrence is being developed. EU states are worried that refugee claimants might enter by the state with the most relaxed external border controls and then take advantage of the suppression of internal border controls in order to seek out and settle in the state with the most enviable living conditions. The fear is that this would in turn encourage illegal migration and result in an increase in abusive claims. In order to avoid this situation, a coordinated approach is being developed. Negotiations have already led to the signing of several intergovernmental agreements2: the Schengen