ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a novel account of the 2015–16 migration crisis and probes the conditions under which horizontal differentiation in the EU asylum system in the form of unequal allocation of responsibilities for asylum established a situation of dominance with disintegrating consequences. It does so by focusing on a single national case study, that of Greece, a first entry state that has a pivotal place in the Dublin-based common asylum system. In the course of 2015, the left-dominated Greek government at the time pursued a controversial and highly consequential policy of liberalisation of border control that provided to large numbers of migrants a passage to north Europe in a seemingly uncontrollable wave of mass migration. This chapter argues that the 2015 policy shift was an instance of unilateral and rule-defiant decision-making by a frontline state in which perceptions of vulnerability and of being subjected to an unfair and arbitrary EU asylum policy abounded across political parties. It draws from a rich body of debates that took place in the Greek Parliament from 2011 to 2016, to analyse the views and perceptions of Greek political parties and policy-makers with regard to the EU asylum system both before and after the 2015–16 crisis.
