The EU’s security-based management of migrant population flows

Dr. Catherine WIHTOL DE WENDEN Director of Research Emeritus at CNRS, researcher for CERI (Centre for International Studies and Research at Sciences Po Paris) [vc_btn title= »Download article » style= »outline » color= »primary » align= »right » i_icon_fontawesome= »fa fa-file-pdf-o » add_icon= »true » link= »url:http%3A%2F%2Fconfrontations.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F10%2FInterface-108-Proceedings-of-the-conference-Refugees-p2-3.pdf||target:%20_blank| »] The issue of immigration and refugee flows is a highly sensitive topic, while long being one of the most unfounded. It is important to remember that Europe attracts more flows than any other destination in the world. It managed 625,000 asylum applications in 2014 and 1.2 million in 2015, compared with between 200 to 400,000 per year on average in previous years. A reality that European countries and public opinion find very difficult to accept, and that has resulted in an important paradox. Europe currently depends on migration for demographic and economic reasons, and has also signed a number of international conventions on human rights: right of asylum, right to family reunification, convention on the rights