European Agenda on Migration: Results of the Progress

• Main Author: Olga Potemkina
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Institute of Europe Russian Academy of Sciences 2019-12-01
• Series: Научно-аналитический вестник Института Европы РАН
• Subjects: irregular migration; asylum; refugees; protection of borders; secondary movements; hotspots; eu-turkey deal
• Online Access: http://vestnikieran.instituteofeurope.ru/images/Potemkina62019.pdf
• ISSN: 2618-7914; 2618-7914

The article deals with the four-year results of implementing the EU strategic document – «European agenda on migration», developed by the Commission in 2015 to address urgent, as well as medium – and long-term problems of EU migration and asylum policy. The author proposes to assess results of the EU’s activities in this field by indicators of migration inflow on the main routes – Central, Eastern and Western Mediterranean and by data on asylum applications in the EU Member States, including results of secondary movements. Based on analysis of statistics, as well as measures taken by the European Union to overcome migration crisis and its consequences, the author observes significant reduction in migration flows to the EU in all directions. Data on financial support for asylum seekers and refugees, as well as hosting countries, various programmes and projects in the field of social services and education for refugee children are also analysed. The author pays special attention to Turkey as the country hosting the largest number of asylum seekers and notes that cooperation of the EU and Turkey to curb the migration flow to Europe remains hostage to the difficult and unstable relations of partners. Cooperation with the countries of the African Union, presented as an «innovative partnership», is also considered. The author believes that the EU has achieved tangible results in the implementation of the «European agenda on migration», but recent trends indicate that this success is unstable, so the challenges of migration will remain at the top of the EU political agenda for many years.