Die EU Asyl- und Migrationspolitik hat seit 1999 eine enorme Weiterentwicklung erfahren. Nichtsdestotrotz ist sie nach wie vor in weiten Teilen restriktiv, illiberal und zeugt nicht von internationaler Solidarität. Mit Beispielen aus der politischen Praxis des letzten Jahrzehnts führt der Autor die Merkmale dieser Politik auf eine Kultur des „responsible policymaking“ der Innenminister zurück – die gerade denjenigen am meisten schadet, für die die Minister sich verantwortlich fühlen: den Bürgern der Europäischen Union.
englischIt is a commonplace: EU asylum and immigration cooperation would look rather different without the dominant role of Europe's interior ministries. Policy instead remains broadly restrictive, illiberal and short on international solidarity.
Given the Amsterdam Treaty of 1999, the continued prevalence of these traits is perhaps surprising. The Treaty formally upgraded the European Commission and Parliament and could well have heralded a major shift in the character of policy.
From an academic perspective, interior ministries' success in asserting themselves in policymaking and their preoccupation with increasing control over migration might be put down to a desire to expand their autonomy and power. Analysing important policy initiatives of the past decade, this book points to a different reality.
Rather than institutional self-interest, interior ministries are motivated by an acute awareness of their responsibilities to EU citizens. This awareness has made them resistant even to those political actors directly elected by citizens, and has led to a control policy with potentially deleterious side effects for those they seek to represent.
