Migration and asylum

The need to balance humanitarian responses and legal obligations while ‘ending’ irregular migratory journeys has overwhelmed the EU for the past three years. A patchwork of policies emerged as a response to the ‘refugee crisis’ of 2015. Who undertakes the responsibility for search and rescue, disembarkation and asylum processing?

The migration question has only been addressed with short-term answers in response to a situation perceived as urgency and ‘problem’. But could a legal migration not rather be part of the solution and contribute to develop a real vision of a diverse society? 

More than 8,000 people have crossed the border of Bosnia and Herzegovina since the beginning of the year, the number is increasing each day. Only a few hundred of those who are registered are decent accommodations, others live on the streets, in provisional camps. Those happier among them found accommodation with the local population or in hostels and hotels.

Saving the lives of refugees and other migrants has been reiterated as a number one priority within the European Agenda on Migration. This document puts ‘saving lives at sea’ above fighting migrant smuggling, relocation and resettlement, stating that ‘Europe cannot stand by whilst lives are being lost.’ 

Centre-left parties speak the same language as right-wing parties when it comes to migration. The only solution they propose is to close borders and reduce arrivals. In contrast, a positive narrative would be to count the number of migrants who manage to start a new life.  

Center-left parties have to reinvent and reposition regarding the new world order shaped by globalization, digitalization and changing labour conditions. People expect new answers to migration, a growing life expectancy and a vision of a “modern welfare state”.