What Prospects for Change to Achieve a Sustainable EU Migration Policy?

The migration of over one million refugees to the EU was perceived as a crisis of borders and subsequently a problem too large to cope with. However, the situation was the result of shortsighted and inappropriate policies. Some avoidable tragedies, such as deaths of immigrants trying to reach Lampedusa and Malta, have occurred because they slipped through the gaps between the gradations of the EU’s much-vaunted multi-level governance. This paper argues that transformation is indispensable for Europe to be able to play any meaningful role in the management of migrant and refugee arrivals in a sustainable manner. It analyses how the pressure of increasing number of immigrants and asylum-seekers coming to Europe has been pushing the EU and its Member States for a re-evaluation of the existing policy tools and for the creation of the new ones, such as the highly debatable refugee deal signed with Turkey. Through a qualitative analysis of policy discourses, narratives and policy actions taken since the summer of 2015, the paper explores the prospects for the EU and its Member States to exercise more fundamental changes within the European migration policy landscape that will respect both international standards as well as the key EU principles.