Statement by Professor Friedrich Heinemann on the outcome from the EU summit to address the refugee crisis - A "European Fortress" Will not Solve the Refugee Crisis

In his analysis of the outcomes from the EU summit to address the refugee crisis, held in Brussels, Professor Friedrich Heinemann,head of the Research Department "Corporate Taxation and Public Finance" at the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim, determines that, "the conclusions drawn by the European Council in regard to migration indicate a lack of creative drive on the part of the EU to solve the refugee crisis."

"The European Council has set all its hopes on highly uncertain strategies designed to reduce levels of immigration to Europe. Yet the EU lacks ideas as to how asylum policy might be approached as a European task, to a greater extent as has yet been the case. Models of solidarity, European refugee redistribution schemes ('quotas'), have not been explicitly mentioned. Calls for decisions on relocation schemes to be implemented by the end of the year have fallen on deaf ears. Ideas as to how to strengthen Europe's role in the uptake of refugees are almost non-existent.

The European Council has once again missed an opportunity to make use of Europe's capacity to solve issues by implementing a comprehensive, Europe-wide strategy. The proposal made by ZEW researchers for the establishment of a European Asylum Agency (EAA) represented an alternative to the current policy which lacks ambition. The ZEW proposal indicates that delegating comprehensive responsibility to the European Union for the entire asylum process, completed within a single European infrastructure for the uptake of refugees, could lessen many of the acute symptoms of the refugee crisis seen today. The asylum process would be accelerated by the input of more specialised case managers. And a European infrastructure, which would cover more than a few badly functioning "hotspots" in Greece, would ensure a more even distribution of refugees seeking safety in Europe.

The current policy, which shall now continue to apply following the summit, adheres to the principally flawed Dublin Regulation. The race to implement the least favourable conditions of admission, and to close national borders, will continue unrestrained.The EU is thus pinning its hopes evermore strongly on the model of a "European fortress", as the lowest common denominator, in order to stem the refugee crisis. This constitutes a historical failure on the part of the EU."

For more information please contact

Professor Friedrich Heinemann, Phone +49(0)621/1235-149, E-mail heinemann@zew.de