The EU Migration Policy: between Europeanization and Re-Nationalization

Originally, the migration policy was included in the European Union’s agenda by the Maastricht Treaty in 1992. It became part of the so-called ‘third pillar’, i.e. Justice and Home Affairs (JHA). Although it was partly communitarized by the Amsterdam Treaty in 1997, migration policy has mostly remained intergovernmental, and consequently subject to member states’ cooperation. The major explanations for the Europeanization of the policy are two-fold. The first perspective refers to the internationalization of European economies and the consolidation of the Single European Market. The second is related to the increase in the migratory pressure on EU borders since the late 1980s, especially from Central and Eastern Europe and North Africa. According to these views, EU member states were forced to set a common policy on migration out of necessity. However, the inclusion of migration policy in the JHA intergovernmental pillar hindered the definition of a unitary European policy, and preserved different national approaches to this issue. Only the Lisbon Treaty (signed in 2007, but in force since 2009) officially abolished the pillar structure and promoted a centralization of the policy-making process. Nevertheless, the current migration crisis in the Balkans has once more emphasized national positions. The paper examines the tension between Europeanization efforts and national sovereignty in the evolution of the migration policy, in the attempt to identify possible developments in this policy field.