EPIM Policy Update March 2016

EPIM Policy Updates are developed as a resource for organisations interested in European policy developments in the area of migration and integration. The European Policy Centre (EPC), a Brussels-based think tank, has been commissioned to produce these Policy Updates, which are released five times a year.

EPIM Policy Updates address topics relevant to EPIM’s Thematic Funds: Immigration Detention; Reforming the Common European Asylum System; Children and Youth on the Move; Mobile EU Citizens’ Access to Rights; and Building Inclusive European Societies.

The new Policy Update also comes with a new structure including the following chapters: special focus, political developments, legislative developments, ECJ case law and legal actions, a closer look from EPIM grantees, facts and figures and the EU calendar.

This edition’s special focus is dedicated to the deal between the EU and the UK and how it could potentially affect the freedom of movement of EU citizens.

Other key highlights of this Policy Update include:

• An overview of EPIM’s focus as it steps into the fourth phase (2016-2018);
• The outcomes of recent high level meetings and summits, such as the European Council meetings, the JHA Council meeting and the Austrian organised “Managing Migration Together” meeting in Vienna, with the subsequent reactions;
• The deployment of NATO in the Aegean sea and the EU-Turkey Action Plan;
• Belgium introducing controls on the French border and the European Council asks Greece for reforms to border deficiencies, adding more pressure to an already immensely strained Schengen area;
• Several legislative proposals, including the creation of a European Border and Coast Guard (EBCG);
• The European Commission issuing reasoned opinions on the non-transposition of the Common European Asylum System to several member states;
• Case studies from ECJ Case Law on detention and EU mobile citizens;
• A closer look on ‘Which Europe?’ by Spyros Rizakos, Director of AITIMA in Greece.