The Europeanization of Refugee Policy

In 1999, following the Kosovo conflict and displacements in Europe and in the run up to the special Tampere Council meeting of the European Union (EU) to discuss the new area of freedom, security and justice,¹ then U.K. Home Secretary Jack Straw declared that asylum is a ‘European problem’ (BBC 1999). His words were the same as those of ministers and other leaders in most EU member states at that time and since. The question is: When politicians and commentators talk of asylum as a ‘European problem’, are they speaking an incontrovertible truth, or seeking to justify themselves in the