The Porous Dam: European Harmonization on Asylum In The Nineties

The first body set up to harmonize policies on asylum, namely the Schengen Agreement, became a magnet and generated a centripetal movement. All the Twelve EC Member States developed similar initiatives which EFTA countries are presently eager to join. It means that all the European countries which do not produce refugees at present and are not likely to do so in the foreseeable future are to be associated in this harmonization process. This article examines the details of harmonization measures after Schengen and Dublin. However, another twist in the evolution of the EC may modify the democratic deficit of these intergovernmental treaties, and it remains to be seen what will be the impact of the Treaty on European Union. At the very beginning of the 1990s a major upheaval, the dismantlement of communist regimes and the end of the cold war, altered the map of Europe and had a profound impact on asylum issues. On the one hand, it produced the lifting of exit controls in Eastern European countries. On the other hand, the crises and conflicts which ensued entailed a mass refugee movement from Yugoslavia and the threat of further population movements from other parts. This has prompted a variety of initiatives. Several fora have been formed bringing together Western and Eastern European countries, some of which have taken on board the question of asylum. However, the bases for discussions are necessarily very different, for now countries which are potential producers as well as receivers of refugees are involved. Will this mean a more liberal regime?