New report on EU’s relocation of asylum seekers from Greece and Italy to other Member States
A new report commissioned by the European Parliament and co-authored by the Refugee Studies Centre's Cathryn Costello, examines the EU's mechanism for relocating asylum seekers from Greece and Italy to other Member States.
It examines the scheme in the context of the Dublin System, the hotspot approach, and the EU-Turkey Statement, recommending that asylum seekers’ interests and rights be duly taken into account, as it is only through their full engagement that relocation will be successful.
Relocation can become a system that provides flexibility for the Member States and local host communities, as well as accommodating the agency and dignity of asylum seekers. This requires greater cooperation from receiving states, and a clearer role for a single EU legal and institutional framework to organise preference matching and rationalise efforts and resources overall.
The report, "Implementation of the 2015 Council Decisions establishing provisional measures in the area of international protection for the benefit of Italy and of Greece" was written Cathryn Costello, Elspeth Guild (Centre for European Policy Studies) and Violeta Moreno-Lax (Queen Mary University of London).
It was commission by the EU Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the LIBE Committee.