Mutual Recognition in European Immigration Policy: Harmonised Protection or Co-ordinated Exclusion?

Abstract

This chapter examines the influences upon and the impact of Union measures in these two fields—in particular the Return Directive—and seeks to assess what each tells us about the political dynamics behind the development of EU policies and actions in these areas, particularly in the context of the Union’s search for legitimacy through public perception of its effectiveness in assisting in the achievement of key policy goals, even if the content of these remains determined largely by national politics and national policy. By describing the historical background and the Pact on Immigration and Asylum, the author evaluates the present and future impact. Whatever the correct interpretation of the Charter provisions, the main task facing the Union is to create a code of Union law which provides an effective legal basis for uniform international protection throughout the Member States, delivered primarily by the administrative authorities of the Member States themselves. Yet, it remains less clear that this convergence will be soon paralleled by a coherent policy towards migration as an economic and social phenomenon and the realisation of the ambitious goals set for a common immigration and asylum system under the new Treaty provisions.