Towards a European refugee policy

The refugee crisis is filled with drama and tragedy, but it is also an opportunity. It could provoke the European Union member countries to face reality and to accept that migration – and especially refugee – policies are no longer a competence that individual states can handle efficiently, ideally resulting in an agreement on a common EU migration and refugee policy. The waiving of passport controls within the Schengen area and a common EU labour market with free movement of workers indispensably requires the same common rules for entrance to be applied everywhere at EU borders and an asylum procedure that follows the same standards in every member state. Otherwise, the deficiencies of nationally diverging migration or asylum regimes lead to an undesirable “triangle migration”, with immigrants and refugees searching for the easiest entrance door. After entering, they can then move to whichever country they want, applying for asylum in the country with the most lenient rules. Once they have been granted the right to stay and work in that country, there are no further restrictions preventing them from migrating to any other EU country.