Florian Trauner

Aid cuts are driving migrants to Europe, warns UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi calls on EU countries to support existing asylum facilities in Africa rather than create new schemes

Before the 2015 refugee crisis, the cash-strapped World Food Programme had to drop 1/3 of its Syrian refugees from food vouchers in its Middle Eastern programme. A few months later, arrival numbers in Europe increased. Now, 10 years later, all of this seems forgotten...

www.ft.com/content/976f...

On #WorldRefugeeDay, we reflect on the EU’s asylum system—strained by growing use of national emergency powers to control migration.
Is this eroding EU asylum standards?

📘 Read our new @birmm.bsky.social Policy Brief: zenodo.org/records/1565...

#Refugees #EUAsylum #MigrationPolicy

🎓 We are pleased to announce that on 16 June 2025, Folashade Ajayi successfully defended her PhD thesis entitled "Between making sense of and sensing Black activism in Germany". The BSoG would like to congratulate Dr. Ajayi on this wonderful achievement! 👏 #PhD #BSoG #VUB #research #BlackActivism

🎓👏 We are thrilled to share that on 16 June 2025, Folashade Ajayi successfully defended her PhD thesis entitled "Between making sense of and sensing Black activism in Germany".

The BSoG would like to congratulate Dr. Ajayi on this wonderful achievement!

#PhD #BSoG #VUB #research #BlackActivism

Speech by Commissioner Marta Kos at the EU International Affairs Conference All Member States are faced with three great challenges: the challenge of peace, the challenge of freedom and the challenge of prosperity, and it seems clear that they can only be met through the Euro

Speech of Commissioner Marta Kos at #EUIA25 is now published

ec.europa.eu/commission/p...

“Enlargement remains the greatest geopolitical success of the EU”. Enlargement commissioner Marta Kos at #EUIA25

#EUIA25 has started. Interesting discussion in the EU’s international role. A first panel is chaired by Julien Jeandesboz and concerns liberalism, borders and sovereignty.

Bordering, ordering, othering, ordering: the legal thickening of EU

📢 Join us at BIRMM/VUB for a guest lecture by Prof. Marie-Laure Basilien-Gainche @mlbg.bsky.social: “Bordering, Ordering, Othering: The Legal Thickening of EU Frontiers” 🗓️ 27 May, 🕛 12:00 PM. Open to all – register here 👉 birmm.research.vub.be/bordering-or... #Migration #EUlaw #BIRMM #VUB

Ich freue mich sehr, dass mein Beitrag diese neue Blogreihe des Netzwerks @fluchtforschung.bsky.social eröffnet. Er behandelt, wie Mitgliedstaaten anhand von nationalen Notfallmaßnahmen die EU-Asylpolitik mehr und mehr beeinflussen.

The role of EU‐promoted versus local narratives in migratory decision‐making in the Gambia The EU tries to dissuade potential migrants from coming to Europe irregularly. However, can EU-promoted narratives compete with local ones and actually influence migratory decision-making? This artic....

Pleased to announce our new publications on the role of narratives in migratory decision-making in the Gambia. A particular focus is on whether EU-promoted narratives can compete with local ones and actually influence migratory decision-making.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Opinion | How to Destroy What Makes America Great Trump’s tariffs erect a wall between Americans and other people, obstructing the flow not only of goods but also of ideas, contacts, technology and friendships.

A great article to understand what Trump is doing to America beyond economic damage. It's about destroying cosmopolitism and installing a security mind-set. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/o...

EU wants to beef up border agency to 30,000 staffers European Commission proposal would increase force of EU border patrols under Frontex.

If Frontex is beefed up to 30,000 staffers, it will be increasingly member states assisting Frontex in its activities and no longer Frontex assisting member states in theirs.

www.politico.eu/article/eu-w...

Now out and #openaccess in issue 30(2): Democracy Matters (To Some Extent): Autocracies, Democracies and the Forced Return of Migrants from the EU by Philipp Stutz & Florian Trauner @ftrauner.bsky.social

Download and read for free:

Brussels university VUB opens doors to 'censored' American researchers "US universities and their scholars are the biggest victims of this political and ideological interference. They are seeing millions in research funding disappear for ideological reasons."

Great initiative by the #VUB, opening up for American scholars and researchers. The @bsog.be may have to play a particular role in this, being the VUB's most international entity and already having several American colleagues.

www.brusselstimes.com/1490737/brus...

Proposal for a Regulation establishing a common system for return Proposal for a Regulation establishing a common system for return

Official text of new proposal for EU Regulation on expulsion of non-EU migrants staying irregularly (replacing the current Returns Directive)

Text - home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/proposal-reg...
Press release - ec.europa.eu/commission/p...
Qs and As - ec.europa.eu/commission/p...

Overall, the discussion on return hubs may cost a lot of political energy while having little real impact. The negotiations of the EP and Council may concentrate on other, more useful aspects of reforming the EU's return directive.

3) A policy such as return hubs may turn out to be expensive while effectively targeting only a relatively small number of migrants.

2) there are tight human rights concerns what may be allowed legally (with the Italy-Albanian deal being a testimony of this);

1) third countries tend to face stiff domestic opposition against externalized EU migration policies in their territory; Cooperating on deportation policies is often framed as a betrayal of the interest of the own citizens.

How will the new Commission plan change the picture? The EU will get new legal possibilities to engage with third countries yet the overarching dynamic may remain comparable:

The EU's ‘return rate’ with third countries: Why EU readmission agreements do not make much difference The signing of EU readmission agreements is commonly believed to lead to a higher rate of returns of migrants found ineligible to stay in Europe. By analysing the EU’s ‘return rate’ with the whole wo...

Here is the link to the open access publication: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

In a project gathering the EU's return data with every country of the world, we show that the EU's return rate has actually decreased with most third countries, with the exception of the Western Balkans and Eastern Europe. Readmission agreements and more EU conditionality did not change much.

The Commission will publish today its proposal "a common system for the return of third-country nationals staying illegally in the Union". The overarching objective is to increase the EU's return rate and open possibilities for new measures such as return hubs in third countries. A 🧵

In short, Austria is trying to follow a legal strategy that does not openly violate EU law; that said, Austria is definitely risking that the CJEU may consider that the country overstretches the use of an EU emergency clause.

Here is his full legal analysis (which concerned older cases but is still relevant also for this one): papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

"A resort to Article 72 TFEU constitutes an ultima ratio if all other courses of action at the European level have proven to be insufficient. This would need to be substantiated in case of doubt", writes the German legal scholar Daniel Thym.

Austria will have to make a very convincing case that capacity issues in the educational sector are indeed impossible to solve without these extreme measure. The court may not appreciate an invocation for primarily political signaling.

This is a risky legal strategy. There have been a range of rulings of the CJEU on this issue allowing the invocation of Art 72 only in a very restrictive manner.

In his view, this implies that the 'systems have gone beyond their capacity limits', notably the educational sector. He is also mentioning the health system and pension system and their stretch.

In the letter, he referred to two critical numbers: Syrians would have grown from 1.500 persons in 2010 to 98.180 persons in 2024. Similarly the Afghan community would have grown from 5.600 to 50.5000 in 15 years.

Interior Minister Karner sent a letter on 5th March suggesting to invoke Art 72 TFEU allowing exceptions from EU law for the maintenance of law and order and the safeguarding of internal security.