ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the development of the European Union (EU) asylum policy and, more precisely, the extent to which, if any, it has led to the securitization of asylum-seekers and refugees in the EU. It examines the main objectives that the EU has sought to fulfil through the establishment of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS), the main stages in its development. The chapter assesses the EU’s main achievements by focusing on the most developed dimension of the CEAS to date, namely legislative approximation. It aims to establish whether these EU asylum legislative instruments that have been adopted as part of the CEAS demonstrate that there have been securitization dynamics at play in the EU asylum policy venue, or not. The chapter shows that the EU has managed to adopt a significant number of policy instruments on asylum, which is particularly remarkable in the light of the traditional sensitivity of asylum in national political debates.
