27 April 2023

Webinar videos on the ongoing EU reforms and their impacts along the exile routes

Migreurop organised on 19 April 2023 a public webinar to analyse the ongoing EU reforms on migration and asylum, and their impacts along the exile routes. This webinar was organised in collaboration with La Cimade, Ciré, CNCD-11.11.11 and Statewatch. The first part of the webinar aims to update information on current EU reforms, including the European Pact on Asylum and Migration (see here Migreurop’s position paper on the subject) and the reform of the Schengen Borders Code. The second part of the webinar highlights the impacts of these European reforms on the ground, both in Europe with the case of France, Greece, Italy or Bulgaria and on the African continent with the cases of Niger, Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia.

Part 1: Current European reforms on migration and asylum: state of play and main issues

Yasha Maccanico, Statewatch and co-chair of Migreurop

Steve Peers, Professor of EU Law & Human Rights Law, Uni of Essex

Sylvie Guillaume, S&D MEP, rapporteur on the CFS reform

Anne-Sophie Pelletier, GUE/NGL MEP, shadow rapporteur on the CFS reform

Part 2: The current European reforms on migration and asylum: What are the concrete manifestations and impacts on exile routes?

In this part, the speakers returned to the concrete manifestations and impacts of these European reforms on exile routes, describing the way in which mobility is hindered to prevent access to European territory, with Article 25bis of the Schengen Visa Code and the situation in Morocco and Tunisia; refoulements on the other side of the border, both within internal borders (France) and external borders (Niger and Egypt) and finally, confinement and sorting at borders with the cases of Greece and the Bulgarian and Italian borders.

Impeding mobility to prevent access to EU territory