Column: The EU Migration Crisis What Next?
| Date | 01 March 2016 |
| Author | Thom Brooks |
| Published date | 01 March 2016 |
| DOI | 10.1177/016934411603400102 |
| Subject Matter | Column |
Netherlands Q uarterly of Human Ri ghts, Vol. 34/1, 4–7, 2016.
4 © Netherlands I nstitute of Human Rig hts (SIM), Printed in the Net herlands.
COLUMN
THE EU MIGRATION CRISIS
WHAT NEXT?
T B *
e summer of 2015 transformed the migration debate in Europe. Perhaps the only
issue of wide agreement is that long-term changes to European migration policy are
now more likely – and likely to be more restr ictive – than before. Whether or not such
changes are welcome in the long-term – and, indeed , what these changes are – remain
to be seen.
During the rst half of 2015, migration was a n area of concern in many countries,
but it was largely viewed as a domestic is sue. For example, in the UK it was common
to speak of the refugee crisis as having a speci c location: the camps in Calais
immediately outside the Eurotunnel connecting Britain with France. About 4,000
migrants were estimated to live in these camps nick named ‘the jungle’, highlighting
their isolation and desperat ion.
By the summer, this became headline news dominating the front pages of
tabloid and broadsheet newspapers alike, with increasingly more vocal calls for the
UK Government to act on this perceived threat on its border. Televised images of
migrants th reatening lorry dr ivers and breaking i nto their cargo holds played up the
image of migrants a s young men to be feared and unwelcome. e Br itish and French
home secretaries soon met to agree new policies that stepped up security in Calais,
increased e orts to process any asylum claims in France and reduce the growing
numbers of largely men moving into ‘the ju ngle’ camps.
But only a few weeks later, the EU migration cri sis took on a new and more profound
meaning. In Augu st 2015, no one could speak of this crisis a s a local problem – for it
now engulfed Europe. Hundred s of thousands of refugees headed for the EU’s borders
largely from war torn areas l ike Afghanistan, I raq and Syria, ocking to countries li ke
Greece and Italy. is w as the greatest movement of refugees since the Second World
War.
What made this a crisis was more than just the sheer numbers of refugees, but
rather how they strained an already fragile EU agreement on migration to breaking
point. EU countries are bou nd by what is called t he Dublin Regulation – the current
* om Brooks is professor of law a nd government at Durham Universit y (UK). He advises the UK’s
Labour Part y on immigration law and pol icy. All comments here are made in a pers onal capacity
only.
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