EU-Turkey Agreement Research Articles

Unpacking policy effects on the smuggling industry: a postfunctionalist examination

Evidence from different countries show that increasingly restrictive policies such as the criminalisation of migrant smuggling and the externalisation of border controls to countries of origin and transit of migratory flows, often re-sult in more sophisticated organisational structures, causing the replacement of small-scale decentralised organisations with larger hierarchical structures. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 20 professionals involved in undocu-mented migration, this study aims to assess the impacts of bilateral policy changes between 2016 and 2021 on the smuggling industry in the Mediterra-nean through a postfunctionalist theoretical perspective. The Italy-Libya Memorandum of Understanding and the EU-Turkey agreement prompted changes in migrants' routes arriving in Greece and Italy, leading to a shift in demand for smuggling services from certain countries to others. As the find-ings suggest, the Italy-Libya agreement increased the demand for smugglers operating in Tunisia, while the EU-Turkey agreement reinforced traditional methods of unauthorised movement relying on smuggling networks.

EUROPEAN MIGRANT CRISIS: ANALYSIS OF MIGRATION ROUTES

The scientific article examines the main ways of migration to Europe from 2014 to 2020. As a result of the conducted research, the following conclusions were made in the scientific article. The migration crisis of 2015 put the issue of migration on the political agenda and revealed the shortcomings of the European Union, Frontex and EU Member States in their border management mechanisms. In 2015, more than one and a half million illegal border crossings were detected at the EU’s external borders, an all-time record. At a crucial moment in the migration crisis, Turkey was one of the main points of entry, with around 800,000 illegal migrants. This circumstance indicates the current impossibility of the European Union to curb illegal immigration in the absence of a strategic plan agreed with the member states poses a risk to internal security. The lack of a mechanism for solving such situations 17 This paper is partially based on the Doctoral Thesis "The borders of the European Union: Objectives and Measures to face its security" that Mr. Isaac de Toro Mezquita is researching at UCAM. 18 The author has been a SNE in FRONTEX and in the Frontiers Working Group. in 2020 shows the weakness of the European Union, especially in the face of possible migration situations at its external borders, the situation with which still remains fragile and unstable. The need to advance legislative priorities to optimize the management of external borders to reduce or eliminate migratory routes has become objective, but the only measure adopted by the European Union that has managed to curb illegal entry was the EU-TURKEY Agreement, which can be considered a special measure, and that makes the EU dependent on the political will of the Turkish government. The European Union particularly focused on the Mediterranean migration routes, where various maritime operations were carried out. This protection of external borders has forced the search for or restoration of new migration routes, such as the West African route, which has seen a significant increase, but we can also see a slight increase in the Western Balkan route. This shows the inability of the European Union to provide equal protection at all external borders, and that the measures taken by the European Border Guard appear to be ineffective.

Immigration in the Eastern Mediterranean as a European Challenge: The Role of Greece and the Necessity for a Common European Immigration and Foreign Policy

Immigration and refugee flows in the Eastern Mediterranean migration path have been increased since 2015, thus, creating the need for coordinated political reaction from the European Union. Some actions have been achieved, such as the EU-Turkey agreement but their effectiveness is contested, while the burden is mainly shared by the Mediterranean EU member states. At the same time, the challenges for all European countries in terms of refugees integration is becoming more and more eminent, due to the continuing immigration flows to the EU. This article analyses two basic parameters on the necessity of coordinated European policy both in the fields of immigration policy and foreign policy towards the stabilization in the Eastern Mediterranean, mainly by focusing on the role of Greece.

Examining the Vulnerability Procedure: Group-based Determinations at the EU Border

Abstract Between 2016 and 2019, almost all asylum seekers who managed to reach the Greek islands in the North Aegean Sea had to undergo an assessment of their vulnerability within the EU hotspot system. Those who were found vulnerable were exempted from return under the EU-Turkey Agreement and were free to leave for the Greek mainland. This article provides a detailed account of the vulnerability procedure, which classifies migrants through pre-established categories on account of externally distinguishable features rather than individual experiences. As is shown, this type of group-based management of refugees preceded the Refugee Convention, but has since the 1960s primarily been applied in the Global South. The use of this procedure in Europe reflects an exception from the European individualist human rights approach. In the context of EU hotspots, the vulnerability procedure provides a pathway to exemption from externalisation, for those who can live up to its requirements of documentable hardship.

KSZTAŁTOWANIE SYSTEMU PRAWNEGO NA TLE KRYZYSU MIGRACYJNEGO Z 2015 ROKU

This paper discusses the legal issues in the field of migration crisis that the European community has been dealing with in recent years. To understand the specifics of this issue, it should be realized that people from time immemorial have moved from place to place in order to improve their living conditions. Migrants are resettling to improve their lives, lacking security in a country that cannot or does not want to guarantee it. Reasons for migration can be as plentiful and varied as are migrants themselves. Refugees decide to escape their own country, risk their own and their families’ lives, yearning to break free from oppression that prevents them from observing their faith, following passions, or expressing their views. Emigrants decide to leave their homeland for economic reasons, to improve their financial situation, or achieve self-actualization. Their journeys split between those made in accordance with applicable national and international legal norms, such as ones dictated by the European Union, and those that are carried out against the law. It is important to remember that each immigrant represents a unique, often overly complex story, one of the myriad human dramas that we have faced since our civilization has begun. To safeguard a set of basic human rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of December 10, 1948 was adopted by the United Nations, guaranteeing to all persons the right to unimpeded movement, choice of where to live within each country, and to their nationality. Compelled by social change, globalization, digital revolution and several migratory crises of recent years, the Global Compact for Migration of December 19, 2018 was developed by the UN, containing several principles designed to make migration safer. Poland has not yet acceded to the agreement. The migration crisis, also known as the refugee crisis, that has started in 2015, was recognized as the largest of its kind since the Second World War, overtaking the public discourse around the world. The European Union responded to it with a 10-point plan of immediate actions. It is estimated that as many as two million people immigrated to Europe during that time. At least 20,000 people lost their lives in transit via sea and land. In order to guarantee the security of the Union's borders and to significantly increase support for people in need of humanitarian assistance, a number of actions have been taken, such as creating plans to relocate asylum seekers that are already in Europe and to allow for the return of those who had not met asylum conditions. To date, the European Union has fundamentally increased the security of its borders, combats the smuggling of illegal immigrants and offers secure ways to enter its territory legally. The EU-Turkey agreement was crucial in helping to resolve this problem, by providing Greece the ability to send refugees who had not received asylum in a member state of the European Union to Turkey.

Engaging the Geopolitics of Asylum Seeking: The Care/control Function of Vulnerability Assessments in the Context of the EU–Turkey Agreement

ABSTRACT This article explores vulnerability assessments as practices of filtering, caring and border enforcement. Following the EU-Turkish Agreement which came to force March 2016, migrants crossing from the Turkish coast onto the Greek Aegean islands are subject to a set of administrative procedures which assess the country responsible for processing their asylum claim. As I demonstrate their chances of accessing the asylum process or risk being returned to Turkey are shaped by the outcome of vulnerability assessments. Drawing together feminist approaches on vulnerability and geopolitics with recent work that addresses hotspots and the humanitarian border, the article suggest that vulnerability assessments are is crucial for understanding the ways in which state strategies to discourage mobility are woven into protection practices and the ways in which exclusions are authorised through the strategic deployment of vulnerability. The study is based on fieldwork and interviews conducted on the island of Lesbos during three separate periods between the summer of 2017 and December 2018. By interrogating processes of documentation and the role of state and non-state actors in the operationalising vulnerability, I demonstrate how mobile bodies are governed through vulnerability, medical knowledge and trauma. As a result, vulnerability assessments privilege certain, often gendered mobilities as opposed to others while in parallel contribute to enhancing a mode of care and control at the border that justifies the perpetuation of forms of violence.

Regaining Control? The Political Impact of Policy Responses to Refugee Crises

AbstractIn response to the political turmoil surrounding the recent refugee crisis, destination countries swiftly implemented new immigration and asylum policies. Are such countercrisis policies effective in mitigating political instability by reducing anti-immigrant backlash and support for radical-right parties? The present study exploits two surveys that were coincidentally fielded during significant policy changes, sampling respondents right before and immediately after the change. I employ a regression discontinuity design to identify the short-term causal effect of the policy change on public opinion within a narrow window of the sampling period. The findings show that both Swedish border controls and the EU–Turkey agreement significantly reduced public opposition to immigration in Sweden and Germany, respectively. In Germany, support for the AfD party also decreased following the new policy. Public opinion time trends suggest that the policy effects were short lived in Sweden but durable in Germany. These effects are similar across different levels of proximity to the border and are accompanied by increasing political trust and a sense of government control over the situation. The findings have implications for understanding the impact of border controls on international public opinion, as well as for assessing the electoral effect of policy responses to global refugee crises.

Ambivalences of Citizenship: Syrians with Refugee Status Responding to Ambivalences of Citizenship in Denmark

Abstract Upon the arrival of unprecedented number of Syrian refugees to Denmark in 2015, the government exerted its full power in order to put a stop to this flow. It signed the EU-Turkey agreement, imposed border control and enacted numerous restrictions on the Alien Act sending a blatant message: Do not come to Denmark, we need to cope up with the numbers we have received, while, at the same time, the government has demanded its new residents—refugees and migrants—to live up to its ultimate requirements where they should demonstrate and act as full citizens, while they are denizens. This article investigates Syrian refugees’ responses to this ambivalence: act as a citizen while you are not a citizen! It employs theoretical notions of citizenship such as Per Mouritsen’s approach to citizenship by stressing the integration of its three components: equality, membership and participation supplemented by supporting theoretical concepts such as racialized citizenship and cultural citizenship.

Regaining Control? The Political Impact of Policy Responses to Refugee Crises

In response to the political turmoil surrounding the recent refugee crisis, destination-countries swiftly implemented new immigration and asylum policies. Are such counter-crisis policies effective in mitigating political instability, by reducing anti-immigrant backlash and support for radical-right parties? The present study exploits two surveys that were coincidentally fielded during significant policy changes, sampling respondents right before and immediately after the change. I employ a regression discontinuity design to identify the short-term causal effect of the policy change on public opinion within a narrow window of the sampling period. The findings show that both Swedish border controls and the EU-Turkey Agreement significantly reduced public opposition to immigration in Sweden and Germany, respectively. In Germany, support for the AfD party was also decreased following the new policy. Public opinion time-trends suggest that the policy effects were short-lived in Sweden but durable in Germany. These effects are similar across different levels of proximity to the border and are accompanied by increasing political trust and a sense of government control over the situation. The findings have implications for understanding the impact of border controls on international public opinion, as well as for assessing the electoral effect of policy responses to global refugee crises.

Media Discourse on the Refugee Crisis: On what have the Greek, German and British Press Focused?

This article looks at how the Greek, German and British press have addressed the issue of the refugee crisis in Europe. Using a mixed research approach that combines corpus linguistics and discourse analysis, this article examines 1340 articles that were published online between 20 March and 31 May 2016 in Greece ( Kathimerini, To vima), Germany ( Die Welt, Süddeutsche Zeitung) and the UK ( The Guardian, The Telegraph). The results presented by this article suggest that the press in all three countries mostly presented the refugee crisis in numbers. Geographical qualifiers were also deployed in the effort to broach this thorny issue, while the managerial aspect of the refugee crisis, the critical issue of child refugees and the EU–Turkey agreement were all among the most frequent topics covered by the press.