IMPACT OF IMMIGRATION ON EUROPE AND ITS APPROACH TOWARDS THE MIGRATION (EUROPEAN UNION STATES VS VISEGRAD GROUP COUNTRIES)

摘要

The current European refugee crisis is first and foremost a humanitarian crisis. This article addresses the difficulties the European Union (EU) faces in building a proper Common Migration and Asylum Policy. The author argues that the problem here lies in the different approaches towards migration held by EU member states. Different migratory traditions are one of the key issues related to the misunderstanding among the states. Their approaches are determined by their geographical locations and migration histories. The member states use the same concepts and terms when discussing migration; however, the meanings of these concepts and terms are not equivalent, as each state uses them differently. The main aim of this article is to analyse, compare and, hopefully, to give some clarity to the positions held by the most of EU member states and particularly the Visegrad Group countries (V4). Even though apparently, they hold opposite positions towards migration, the study finds that they share some common features such as a denial of being an asylum country and the absence of a related public policy. Probably the most important conclusion has to do with the fact that these two group of countries are appealing to a "selective solidarity principle" depending on the circumstances.