The Schengen and Refugee Crisis in 2015-2016

Looking back to the near past, we can say that the Schengen and refugee crisis in 2015-2016 was critical to the EU. However, do you think that the EU institutions and/or the member governments played a critical role in shaping and/or constraining the EU’s reform agenda during this crisis? 

The Schengen crisis is one of the significant events that has shaped the integration relations of the EU. According to Frank Schimmelfennig, several Schengen states, beginning with Germany in September 2015, had reinstated controls at portions of their internal Schengen borders due to the crisis. Moreover, the EU has failed to implement a system of shared responsibility or reallocation amongst the member states.

Only a one-time reallocation has been agreed upon, and even this temporary policy has been resisted and legally contested by some Eastern member nations. A Commission proposal for a permanent quota system for the allocation of asylum seekers was rejected by both Eastern and Western member states, including France and Spain, all of which are on the periphery of the 2015 migrant pathways.

On the other hand, EASO (European Asylum Support Office) and Frontex (European Border and Coast Guard Agency) have seen significant funding and personnel increases, but they still lack supranational powers. EASO can encourage, but not compel, Europe-wide uniformity in asylum determinations. In the case of Frontex, it may only perform vulnerability evaluations of national border controls and act where national shortcomings jeopardize Schengen's functioning by the Council’s decisions.

According to research by the Center for European Policy Studies, the EBCG Agency just provides steps to strengthen national authorities' collaboration as well as a reservoir of technical material and border experts accessible in the event of unforeseen surges. Frontex does not have its own staff or direct executive authority in the EU member states in question.

Hence, to summarize we can say that the Schengen crisis has resulted in a continuing (partial) suspension of the Schengen regime rather than a change in its basic norms. It has also resulted in a numeric growth of EU agencies' activity rather than a qualitative deepening. Instead, the EU has emphasized externalization as a means of resolving the Schengen dilemma. Member states have focused their efforts on intergovernmental cooperation with third countries to prevent migrants from reaching the EU's borders in the first place, as they have been unable to agree on enhancing the EU's capacity for the orderly reception of a significant number of migrants.

For reference you can check: Frank Schimmelfennig (2018) European integration (theory) in times of crisis. A comparison of the euro and Schengen crises, Journal of European Public Policy, 25:7, 969-989, DOI: 10.1080/13501763.2017.1421252

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