ABSTRACT
Immigration and asylum policies are among the most sensitive issues confronting the Union. They are sensitive because immigration control has always been seen by Member States, and most of all by the UK, as one of the most important aspects of the exercise of national sovereignty. Union policies on immigration also need to be seen externally in the context of trade policies with third states, both with regard to bilateral policies between the Union and those states, and through agencies such as the International Monetary Fund. The distinction between the refugee and the economic migrant made by the European Director of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees seems, on its face, simple enough. The huge increase in asylum applications in the late eighties affecting, to some extent, every country in Western Europe, provided an impetus for a common response.
