ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses from a historical perspective how the issues of asylum and migration had been dealt with in Europe before the European Union received legal competence on these matters with the entry into force of the Treaty of Maastricht. It considers both asylum and migration policies in Europe, it is important to bear in mind that those are distinct and can be analytically separated. The chapter presents a brief summary of the asylum regime before 1951, as well as an analysis of the drawing up and the content of the Geneva Convention, which is at the core of the international regime of refugee protection. It discusses subsequent application of the Geneva Convention and the evolution of refugee flows into Europe. During the 1950s and 1960s, there was no perception of an ‘asylum problem’ or, even less so, of an ‘asylum crisis’. Western European states, which were experiencing high rates of economic growth at the time, generally welcomed asylum-seekers.
