SOLIDARITY AND EXTERNALIZATION OF SECURITY IN EU MIGRATION AND ASYLUM POLICY. A DOUBLE-FOLDED CONCEPT?

Ana Nikodinovska Krstevska Associate professor /Goce Delcev University in Stip, Faculty of Law

Abstract: The Refugee crisis of 2015-2016 deeply impacted upon the European Union and its member states, Union creating almost a system collapse in EU’s asylum and migration policy and leaving great division among EU Member states. Various attempts were made to facilitate solidarity and to create a treaty-based mechanism that would ensure fair sharing of responsibility for asylum seekers among EU Member States, still these actions have not brought to a concrete outcome. Instead, cooperation with third countries has been strengthened, especially to secure EU external borders, to reduce the number of irregular migrants and prevent illegal migration. Therefore, against the backdrop of internal solidarity, as defined in a Working document by the European Parliament, where internal solidarity refers to the solidarity shown between Member states, between the European Union as a whole and its Member States, or between EU citizens and third-country nationals present in the EU; the EU strengthened external solidarity which refers to solidarity by EU towards people in third countries who are fleeing from war, persecution, hunger or violent conflicts in their country of origin and solidarity with third countries that currently receive huge numbers of refugees fleeing war, persecution and hunger in neighboring countries. It is through this definition that I will try to problematize EU’s external policies in asylum and migration and those implemented by Member states undertaken as a response to the migration influx in 2015-2016. Some of the questions that I will try to answer will go from a conceptual and theoretical approach to a more case study-oriented approach focusing on Western Balkan countries.

Keywords: principle of solidarity, externalization of security, migration, and asylum, third countries, safe third country clause, readmission agreements