Safe Third Countries
Extending the EU Asylum and Immigration Policies to
Central and Eastern Europe
Sandra Lavenex, European University Institute,
Florence, Italy
The refugee issue has always been controversial and
Lavenex's analyses add fuel to an already heated debate.
She analyses the various bi- and multilateral processes
by which the countries of Central and Eastern Europe
(CEECs) are being gradually incorporated into a restrictive
refugee regime established among the EU member states,
in which the CEECs serve as "gate-keepers" for refugees
and immigrants heading towards Western Europe.
At a time when many transition countries are trying
to enter the EU, Lavenex highlights the CEECs consent
to adapt to Western European policies aimed at fighting
illegal immigration and reducing the numbers of asylum
seekers as a political bargaining tool in exchange for
future membership in the EU. She also argues that the
regime undermines the values of international refugee
protection and diffuses states' responsibilities by
establishing a system of negative redistribution for
the handling of asylum claims.
Safe Third Countries is the first comprehensive study
on the extension of the emergent European refugee regime
and highlights, in an innovative manner, the complex
entanglement of domestic policies, European integration
and international relations.
1999
200 pages
ISBN 978-963-9116-44-3 paperback $22.95 / €19.95 / £17.99
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