Is There Solidarity On Asylum and Migration in the EU?

Solidarity is one of the core values of the European Union and has been recognised as a guiding principle of the EU asylum policy since the coming into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam. It is now incorporated into Art. 80 TFEU, which provides that EU policies on border checks, asylum and immigration must be “governed by the principle of solidarity and fair sharing of responsibility, including its financial implications, between the Member States”. The need for solidarity in the area of asylum and migration stems from the fact that some Member States have more asylum-seekers than other, some have more refugees than others and some have more difficulties in coping with them due to a number of geographic, economic and other reasons. A number of measures could be used to support the functioning of solidarity, such as: funding, practical cooperation, relocation, resettlement, and joint processing. This paper will discuss the potentials and (limited) progress in applying some of these measures. Furthermore, the issue of solidarity will be discussed in the context of the (lack of) debate about the recast of the draft Dublin.  Finally, rather than analysing solidarity only in law and political statements, the paper will address its true meaning and value in practice. It will discuss divergent perspectives about solidarity existing in different Member States with and without external borders. Potential differences between solidarity, burden-sharing and responsibility-sharing will also be taken into consideration.