The law and practice of solidarity in the Common European Asylum System: Article 80 TFEU and its added value

Abstract:

According to the treaty, the EU´s policies for border control, asylum and immigration should be guided by a principle of solidarity and responsibility distribution. The EU has also decided that member states has a shared responsibility for asylum seekers, i.e. that asylum seekers in Italy and Greece ought to be redistributed among other member states.

This has received vocal criticism, not least from some member states. In this European Policy Analysis, the author discusses Article 80 in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the foundation of the Union´s asylum policy. In the light of this principle the author looks closer at the EU’s relocation mechanism, the EU-Turkey partnership and the proposal to reform the Dublin regulation. Is an asylum policy based on the principle of solidarity at all possible and how should solidarity be defined?