Shifting Immigration Policies in Response to the Syrian Refugee Crisis Across the European Union: A Case Analysis of Germany, Hungary, and Lithuania

Abstract

Over one million refugees have entered the borders of the European Union (EU) in 2015, forcing a discordant shift in the immigration policies of individual member states and upsetting the political stability of the region. This analysis answers the question of how immigration policies regarding asylum seekers in Germany, Hungary, and Lithuania specifically have changed recently and what these changes could indicate for the future of the European Union’s own immigration legislation. This research primarily paper analyzes asylum policy before the onset of the refugee crisis and evaluates how policy interests in the three different governments have developed in responses to the crisis. The approaches of each country towards immigration and asylum policy are distinct, and it is important to recognize these developments in order to understand the vulnerability of the Schengen Agreement as well as the future of EU solidarity. This research would fit to panels on the EU’s immigration and asylum policy, responses to the current refugee crisis, and the future of EU solidarity.