Building the common European asylum system beyond legislative harmonisation : practical cooperation, solidarity and external dimension

Abstract

This chapter first, retraces the realisation that EU’s envisaged common system would need more than enhanced legislative harmonisation to reach its full potential and examines the different stages of this evolution. It then undertakes a critical assessment of the development of the building blocks of the CEAS other than legislative harmonisation, namely: practical cooperation, solidarity and fair-sharing of responsibility as well as the system’s external dimension. It comments on how the promise of the creation of a CEAS could be further pursued, including on how to address current shortcomings. The perspectives are based both on legislative and policy initiatives that have been announced by the EU institutions, but also on the authors’ personal assessment.