Reforming the Common European Asylum System – Legislative Developments and Judicial Activism of the European Courts

Abstract

The Common European Asylum System (CEAS) has developed over the past ten years. This new area of harmonisation and co-operation in the European Union (EU) has established some common standards based on the international criteria for refugee protection and the common EU policies concerning the free movement of people and immigration. Concepts such as ‘asylum shopping’ and ‘safe third country’ were used to create a more uniform system of asylum policies. Common standards and procedures try to create a more efficient system of dealing with refugees and asylum seekers, also in the wider context of immigration and free movement of people within the EU. The process formally started with the 1999 Tampere Conclusions and is still ongoing. The book under review looks at the practice of EU institutions, in particular at the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), and of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The approach that the book takes is to consider the CEAS through the lens of human rights standards combined with a ‘de-constructivist’ approach that provide a strong analysis and criticism of the ‘EU’s “securitized” approach to asylum’ (p 2). The issues of state sovereignty and security in relation to asylum and immigration are recurrent issues in the book. They provide a parameter to discuss and analyse the political framework in which the CEAS is inserted.