Safe Third Countries : : Extending the EU Asylum and Immigration Policies to Central and Eastern Europe / / Sandra Lavenex.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Central European University Press eBook-Package 2013-1998
• VerfasserIn: Lavenex, Sandra,
• Place / Publishing House: Budapest ;, New York : : Central European University Press, , [1999]; ©1999
• Year of Publication: 1999
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (204 p.)

The refugee issue has always been controversial and Lavenex's analyses add fuel to an already heated debate. She analyses the various bi- and multilateral processes by which the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEECs) are being gradually incorporated into a restrictive refugee regime established among the EU member states, in which the CEECs serve as "gate-keepers" for refugees and immigrants heading towards Western Europe. At a time when many transition countries are trying to enter the EU, Lavenex highlights the CEECs consent to adapt to Western European policies aimed at fighting illegal immigration and reducing the numbers of asylum seekers as a political bargaining tool in exchange for future membership in the EU. She also argues that the regime undermines the values of international refugee protection and diffuses states' responsibilities by establishing a system of negative redistribution for the handling of asylum claims. Safe Third Countries is the first comprehensive study on the extension of the emergent European refugee regime and highlights, in an innovative manner, the complex entanglement of domestic policies, European integration and international relations.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- 1. Refugees and lnternational Relations -- 2. The Emergence of the EU Refugee Regime -- 3. The Extension of the EU Refugee Regime -- 4. Central and Eastern Europe's Adaptation to the EU 'Acquis' -- 5. A Clash of Regimes? European versus lnternational Refugee Protection -- References -- Index