H2020 Project CEASEVAL - Evaluation of the Common European Asylum System under Pressure and Recommendations for Further Development

Abstract

Since 2015, migration towards and within Europe has challenged the adequacy of the legal design of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) and called into question the overall process of harmonisation of national asylum systems. Based on the acknowledgement that harmonisation is not a fixed term, as it rather incorporates different meanings and practices (e.g. approximation towards minimum standards, policy convergence, etc.), CEASEVAL carries out a multidisciplinary and comprehensive evaluation of the CEAS in terms of its framework and implementation, with the aim of understanding what type of harmonisation and solidarity are possible and necessary. The project is implemented by 14 partners over a period of 24 months and it is organised into 9 work packages, which cover different activities (e.g. dissemination, management) and topics (e.g. methodologies, reception, legal framework, mobility, politicisation, solidarity and policy recommendations).

Questions and topics

Within CEASEVAL, the University of Luxembourg leads Work Package 4 (WP4) on “Borders and the Mobility of Migrants”. The aim of WP4 is to develop a framework to analyse the interactions between borders and the mobility of migrants (asylum seekers, refugees and irregular migrants), thus also addressing the relation between asylum systems and Schengen regime. In order to do so, WP4 investigates the functioning of the internal and external EU borders in the governance of migrants’ mobility by looking specifically at the ways in which bordering processes are implemented when confronted with the mobility of migrants.

The research draws from an extensive empirical study in 7 different countries: France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey. Qualitative interviews with migrants (asylum seekers, refugees and irregular migrants) and institutional actors (border agents, policymakers, representatives of institutions, etc.), as well as ethnographic observations of border agencies and border points are conducted in these case studies. The objectives of this qualitative fieldwork are to identify mobility trajectories, understand how these are shaped by border policies, and compare bordering processes. The work package will result in 7 country reports (one for each case study), a comparative report, a policy brief, and an online interactive map. 

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 770037

Key Moments

Website http://ceaseval.eu

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