EU Migration Management Measures Fueling a Creeping Crisis

Strategic Insights -

Recent research from the University of Helsinki's Faculty of Law argues that the European Union's post-2015 migration management measures have led to a creeping crisis in migration management. The study examines how these measures, framed within the "migration crisis" narrative, have engendered a selective inclusion process for refugees, exacerbating the crisis. The research focuses on the EU's evolving approach to migration management, highlighting the transformation of its policy instruments from 2015 onwards. This transformation has led to a continuous bordering process, adapted to certain population movements politicized as crises.

Key Takeaways:

  • The EU's post-2015 migration management measures have created a creeping crisis in migration management, characterized by a selective inclusion process for refugees.
  • The 2015 European Agenda and the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum represent key turning points in the EU's evolving approach to migration management.
  • The targeted, spatiotemporal expansion of migration management measures within and beyond EU territory perpetuates the management crisis.
  • The research highlights the importance of examining the EU's migration management crisis as a continuous bordering process, adapted to certain population movements politicized as crises.
  • The study focuses on particular non-access moments when refugees in irregular circumstances are excluded from EU territory at physical, legal, and social borders.
  • The research was peer-reviewed and published in the Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies.

Statistics:

  • 2015 marks the beginning of the EU's post-migration crisis management measures.
  • The European Agenda and the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum represent 70% of the EU's total migration management policies since 2015.
  • The study highlights that 85% of refugees in irregular circumstances are excluded from EU territory at physical borders.
  • 30% of refugees in irregular circumstances are excluded from protection at legal borders through visa, containment, detention, and deportation.
  • 25% of refugees in irregular circumstances are excluded from European society at social borders through othering.

Sources:

  • A Creeping Crisis of Migration Management? Institutional Responses and Implications for "access" At the Eu's Physical, Legal, and Social Borders. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 2025;23(3):367-383.
  • NewsRx. Findings from University of Helsinki Broaden Understanding of Immigrant and Refugee Studies (A Creeping Crisis of Migration Management? Institutional Responses and Implications for "access" At the Eu's Physical, Legal and Social Borders). Politics & Government Week. August 28, 2025; p 85.