Is There Another Migration Crisis Brewing in the EU?

by Francesca Robinson, MAEUS student.

This blog post was written for the course "Dialogue on Europe" during the Fall 2019 semester.

Photo Credit: US Navy.
Public Domain.

The migration crisis is over!  At least that's what the European Union has declared.  However, the effects of the crisis are still prominent and there is no sustainable solution to ensure that another migration crisis will not occur.  One of the major issues that the EU has faced with migration is burden sharing.  Coastal countries continue to be inundated with migrants and they do not have much help with distributing asylum seekers or processing their applications.  Countries like Greece and Italy continue to be inundated with migrants while others like Hungary refuse fo take in any migrants at all.  The negative reaction to immigration has only further complicated the migrant crisis and the relationships between the EU member states.   A formalized supranational migration policy might not be possible if states want to continue exercising sovereignty, but something has to be done to solve this burden-sharing issue or Europe may be looking at another migration crisis in the near future.

Although there has been an overall decrease in the number of migrants that have entered the European Union since 2015, there has been a recent rise in the number of migrants entering the Mediterranean.  The future does not look hopeful for these migrants.  Thousands of migrants are displaced and are not receiving proper aid or resources.  In fact, nearly 900,000 of asylum seekers in the EU are living in limbo.  The numbers of pending applications for asylum have been mostly unchanged in the past two years.

Photo Credit: European Parliament,
via Flickr.  License found here.

Additionally, the rise of far-right, anti-immigration political parties has also contributed to more applications being rejected.  The rejection rate for asylum requests in Europe has nearly doubled in the past three years.  There was a 37% rejection rate in 2016 that has jumped to 64% in 2019.  There is a growing fear that there may be a repeat of the 2015 migrant crisis.   FranceHungarian officials stated that they will not participate in this redistribution effort.  Without cooperation, there cannot be a revision of the current ineffective migration policies that have led to this situation.  If some type of joint policy is not formed, then Mediterranean states will continue to be overwhelmed and asylum applications will continue to build up or get denied.  Therefore, another migrant crisis is entirely possible.
, Germany, Italy and Malta had a formal meeting in September to discuss the redistribution of migrants that arrive from northern Africa.  However,

The migrants that are currently living in limbo do not have protection and may not have access to resources like proper healthcare, education, or employment.  Many migrants are also placed in refugee camps.  These camps are often overcrowded and do not offer enough resources for an adequate standard of living.  For instance, a recent news story about a refugee camp in Greece showed that about 13,000 migrants occupied the camp although it was only designed to house 3000 people.  As a result, Greek authorities decided to transfer 570 migrants out of this overcrowded camp.  Many of these migrants have spoken about the poor conditions of the camp and demanded to be moved.  A report done by the EU's European Court of Auditors has also found that agencies that are supposed to assist Greece and Italy with applications and migrants in overloaded camps have not been able to meet these goals because they do not have adequate support from EU member states.  EU countries must step up or else migrants across the EU will continue to suffer.  These individuals may be unable to receive asylum or integrate if EU member states continue to refuse to support migrants.  At the core of the EU is the commitment to protect human rights.  This
commitment includes helping refugees and displaced persons.  If member states continue to refuse to help migrants, EU legitimacy can even be called into question.  Ultimately, until new migration policies or agreements are developed, the migrant crisis will never really be over.

Posted in: Asylum seekers,Dialogue on Europe,Greece,Italy,MAEUS,Malta,Mediterranean,Migrant camps,Migrant crisis,Migration