Evaluating the Prospects for Enhanced Solidarity in the Common European Asylum System

Abstract:

In light of volatile and highly uneven distribution of asylum applications across the European Union, the European Commission issued a communication in December 2011 “on enhanced intra-EU solidarity in the field of asylum” that seeks to create “an EU agenda for better responsibility sharing and more mutual trust” between Member States. In this European Policy Analysis the authors argue that even though many of the recommendations made by the Commission should be encouraged, they fail to address the structural, institutional features of the system ‒ namely the distribution key for financial responsibility sharing and the responsibility allocation principle underlying physical responsibility sharing ‒ which are perpetuating existing inequalities.