Evaluation of the Common European Asylum System under Pressure and Recommendations for Further Development (CEASEVAL)
Towards a harmonised asylum system
The so-called long summer of migration in 2015 and the associated crisis of European asylum policy are decisive topics of public discourse, with far-reaching consequences for political decisions at national and EU-level. While the humanitarian obligation to receive refugees is not in question, this crisis has raised the pressing questions of what fair burden-sharing and harmonisation actually mean in practice and whether the current Common European Asylum System (CEAS) can deliver a harmonised asylum system cohesively.
Harmonisation is not a fixed term but incorporates varied meanings and practices. In legal terms, harmonisation has been explained as a process of approximation towards minimum standards. In political terms, harmonisation focuses on policy convergence, legal harmonisation being only one of many mechanisms of convergence. The CEASEVAL project will determine what kind of harmonisation and solidarity is possible and necessary.
The aims of the project are to
- carry out a comprehensive evaluation of the CEAS;
- analyse harmonisation beyond formal institutions;
- consider actors engaged at local, national and European levels;
- explain the success and failure of coordinated action between these varied actors.
Borders and the mobility of migrants
CEASEVAL includes 14 partners from 13 countries, representing research institutions, think tanks and NGOs.
Of the 9 Work Packages (WP), the University of Luxembourg is in charge of WP 4, Borders and the Mobility of Migrants, whose overall objective is to investigate the functioning of the EU's internal and external borders in the governance of migrant mobility. The research is based on a qualitative design, involving in-depth and semi-structured interviews with institutional actors and migrants (asylum seekers, refugees and rejected asylum seekers) in six EU Member States (Greece, Hungary, Germany, France, Luxembourg and Spain) and Turkey, as well as ethnographic observation.
It builds on the results of WP 2 and 3, in which the University of Luxembourg is also involved. Those focus on the regulatory mechanisms of the CEAS and the governance of national asylum reception systems, to analyse the extent to which their implementation is driving a reintroduction of internal borders.
Horizon 2020
CEASEVAL is a two-year research project (November 2017-October 2019) funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, and coordinated by the Technische Universität Chemnitz.