European policies and the refugee crisis: a challenge to Unity?

Abstract

Media are influencing our perception of reality. For example, many people have been watching conflicts involving the Middle East through television or newspapers, but they have been perceived too far away to influence western lives. The moment when consequences affect the Western World and thousands of migrants land on European coasts, we start calling for the emergency. Through time in history, migrants have always been perceived with a dual effect: both as an economic resource and as a menace for security and internal stability. Nevertheless, it seems out of date to do a similar distinction. Migrants’ flows are pushing to redefine not only European politics on migration, but also the tangibleness of national borders while challenging fundamentals human rights. This thesis’s intention is to provide an analysis of the actual situation, focusing on the latest evolutions and trying to find the causes in the historical and juridical context. It will also question about the responses that the EU, which is already shattered and divided by the economic crisis, is giving to the emergency: is it possible to find a common European response to refugee crisis? Do migrants deserve all the same treatment, or is there a distinction between migrants deserving more rights than others?