Minutes of the CHALLENGE Training school : Migration, Visas and Asylum: Social, legal, political and economic issues

Since Maastricht, the issue of a common EU policy on the movement of third-country nationals into and across the EU has made its way steadily up the political agenda. The issue finds itself high on the priority lists of nearly all EU Council presidencies and forms part of the Strategic Objectives of the Barroso Commission. Yet the ‘migration dossier’ is highly complex as it comprises a considerable number of different facets, making it nearly impossible to find a «one size fits all» approach. It is a cross-cutting policy that touches on many areas: social policy, diversity and social cohesion, economy and employment, demography, education, security and border control, human rights and human dignity, external affairs and development, to name just a few.

After the EU had been assigned competence to play a role in these fields with the Amsterdam Treaty, it has exerted a significant activity. Its current rationale is framed in a policy labelled the «Global Approach to Migration» and steps are well underway in the realization of this policy. At the same time, the first phase of a common EU asylum policy has been finalized and its second phase is already at the door step. This two-day training school seeks to address the various issues and questions related to «migrations» from an interdisciplinary and comparative perspective focusing on theories, laws, discourses, practices, actors, and their social, legal and political implications.

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Minutes of the CHALLENGE Training school : Migration, Visas and Asylum: Social, legal, political and economic issues