The Schengen system is one of the core achievements of the European integration process. This system, which permits those who are present in any of the Schengen States to cross the borders without being checked, assumes a considerable degree of harmonization and mutual trust among those states.

All remaining restrictions to the free movement of Bulgarian and Romanian citizens will have to be removed before the end of 2013. In a number of EU member states this has renewed fears of “benefit tourism”.

In light of volatile and highly uneven distribution of asylum applications across the European Union, the European Commission issued a communication in December 2011 “on enhanced intra-EU solidarity in the field of asylum” that seeks to create “an EU agenda for better responsibility sharing and more mutual trust” between Member States. In this European Policy Analysis the authors argue that even though many of the recommendations made by the Commission should be encouraged, they fail to address the structural, institutional features of the system ‒ namely the distribution key for financial responsibility sharing and the responsibility allocation principle underlying physical responsibility sharing ‒ which are perpetuating existing inequalities.

Circular migration has become a central concept for the future EU migration policy, implying that migrants should be encouraged to move repeatedly between the country of origin and the host country. In this SIEPS report, the author investigates the relevant literature and discusses problems that might arise when forming a migration policy that promotes movement.

The presumption that undocumented migrants are outside the law is wrong. This is one the conclusions in a new European Policy Analysis, with contributions from six researchers at Lund University.

The external dimension of the European Union’s policy on migration and asylum has become an increasingly important feature of the Union’s relations with third countries. It is shaped not only by the foreign policy interests of the member states but also by changes in internal politics of the member states.

Circular migration has become a central concept for the future EU migration policy, implying that migrants should be encouraged to move repeatedly between the country of origin and the host country. The basic purpose is to utilise international labour mobility to make both countries’ economies more efficient.

The report analyses the effects of free movement for workers from the new Member States to Sweden. The immigration is still small compared with total immigration to Sweden.

The author analyzes both the development of common EU asylum systems, and the various models that are discussed to share responsibility for the refugees who come to the EU. The conclusion is that the models discussed today are not likely to lead to an equitable distribution of responsibility and the author proposes a model where the prevention interventions for refugees is taken into account.