The Visegrad Group and the EU agenda on migration: A coalition of the unwilling?

Abstract

More than a million refugees applied for asylum in member states of the European Union in the course of 2015. Along with the challenges of the central Mediterranean migration route, new hotspots of migratory movements emerged, such as Hungary. The EU is faced as a result with a number of challenges connected to its asylum policy, mostly because its system was not designed with the prospects of a persistent mass influx of refugees in mind. Although the recast process of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) established the possibility of financial compensation, supportive measures and earlywarning mechanisms, no common system for a more equal distribution of refugees was accepted. Initiatives aiming to establish resettlement and relocation mechanisms based on distribution keys were not supported unanimously. Among the prominent persistent objectors to such plans are the Visegrad Four (V4) countries who express a strong interest in securitising irregular migration. This article aims to explain V4 countries’ reactions, and examines whether a fundamental reassessment of the CEAS is really needed or possible in the near future.