Roundtable ‘The EU Migration, Border Management and Asylum Reform in the Aftermath of the “Refugee Crisis”: Towards an Effective Enforcement?’

Date: 12 June 2020
Location: University of Deusto (Bilbao, Spain)
Final Programme
Instructions for Google Meet

This event will inaugurate the activities of the JM Network at the University of Deusto and will first of all contribute to making EULEN known to the public in Spain. This roundtable will start the discussion to match daily experiences with theory and fine-tune the relevant issues for the call for papers to be presented at the conference in 2021. Migration, border management and asylum policies have recently been amended and strengthened with a clear trend from decentralized enforcement towards developing more and more forms of transnational (i.e. the European Migrant Smuggling Centre of Europol, the reinforced cooperation of the AFSJ agencies on the ground through the hotspot approach, the Justice and Home Affairs Agencies network, etc.) and centralized enforcement (i.e. the transformation of Frontex into the European Border and Coast Guard, Easo into the European Union Agency for Asylum, the reinforcement of the mandate of Europol, etc.)

Due to the predominantly operational nature of migration, border management and asylum policies, the EU decentralized agencies stand out as the mode of administrative governance, specially indicated for providing technical expertise, exchanging information, and coordinating the operational activities of the Member States. To what extent have the recent changes, including operational powers being conferred across different administrative levels, and agencies, promote effective enforcement in this area? This roundtable aims at discussing these recently introduced changes with the key stakeholders. Selected academic experts will be invited to attend the roundtable as discussants.