The Court of Justice of the EU : an emerging global actor of refugee law?

Abstract

This thesis aims to assess the potential of the CJEU as a global actor of refugee law. In particular, it wonders whether the CJEU interpretation of the 1951 Refugee Convention provisions has a vocation to apply beyond the EU borders. Due to the unprecedented position of the EU Court, which is the first supranational jurisdiction to provide a binding interpretation of the 1951 Refugee Convention provision, the literature is attentively looking at its case law. This thesis argues that the EU court suffers from structural shortcomings that render it unsuitable to interpret the provisions of an international universal agreement such as the Refugee Convention. Due to these shortcomings, the CJEU is indeed developing an autonomous and strongly EU-oriented interpretation of the 1951 Refugee Convention.