03 August 2026
Ceuta at the Fault Lines of European Solidarity
On Friday morning, Europeans woke up to unsettling news. Within 24 hours, approximately 60,000 migrants successfully managed to reach the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in North Africa, and several dozen have been reported dead in the attempt to swim across the border. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has ordered the military to support the Civil Guard on the ground. What caused this sudden influx? Does EU law offer the procedures and mechanisms to respond to the spontaneous arrival of such large numbers of people? And what do these events reveal about the internal functioning of the EU’s migration and asylum regime and solidarity between Member States? Continue reading >>
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21 February 2025
The Claim of Hybrid Attacks
At the European Union’s external borders, migrants are being instrumentalized in geopolitical conflicts, as seen in cases before the European Court of Human Rights concerning pushbacks at the EU-Belarus border. Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania justify these measures as responses to a “hybrid war,” while critics warn against eroding non-refoulement protections. The Court’s ruling will be crucial in defining the balance between state security and human rights. Continue reading >>08 August 2024
Could Hungary be suspended from Schengen?
In early July, the Orbán government announced that it would extend a program that grants third country nationals simplified access and stay to work in Hungary to Russian and Belarussian nationals. This blog maps the ways in which Hungary’s policy might undermine the security of the Schengen area and surveys the tools Member States and EU institutions have at their disposal to counter it. Should the Hungarian government fail to dispel the concerns raised by its extension of the national card system, these mechanisms should be activated to safeguard the security of the Schengen area. Continue reading >>22 April 2024
Schengen’s Paper Pushbacks
On Wednesday, the 24th of April, the European Parliament will vote on a reform of the Schengen Border Code (SBC). The reform appears to institutionalize existing patterns of denying access to rights for people on the move by introducing “transfer-procedures”. Expulsions without procedural safeguards have become common practice at internal borders throughout the EU. The proposed regulation raises concerns over its unclear resolution of potential conflict with EU secondary and primary law, particularly its incompatibility with children’s rights standards, and its application in practice. Continue reading >>
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12 August 2022
Why Banning Russians from Schengen Is Unlawful
Volodymyr Zelensky, the Prime Minister of Finland and others have been calling for an EU-wide ban of Russian citizens from Schengen visas. Unquestionably, the horrible crimes perpetrated by the Russian state should be punished. But Russians are citizens of a totalitarian state, they are not Putin. And whether we like it or not, there is no legal way under current EU law to adopt a blanket citizenship-based ban against Russians acquiring Schengen visas. Even more: political attention paid to it by persons in leadership positions is deeply surprising, if not irresponsible. Continue reading >>05 May 2022