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Small States: “The Gatekeepers” of EU Borders During the Migration Crisis

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Small States and the European Migrant Crisis

Abstract

Three main challenges detected at the EU level during the migration crisis are analysed in the chapter by using different case studies of small bordering EU member states: the question of sovereignty, the lack of clear EU policy and a division which emerged between the most affected states and other member states on taking the heaviest burden of crisis. In order to understand migration trends and challenges faced by the bordering EU states, the meaning of borders is particularly explained and all affected bordering states detected and categorised. As one of the small states’ foreign policy strategies, sheltering, is analysed on the example of four small bordering EU states (Greece, Bulgaria, Hungary, Croatia) during the migration crisis. Several levels of analysis brought forth conclusions regarding the three issues defined at the EU level, regarding each analysed small bordering state, as well as regarding the sheltering strategy layers discussed within the framework of the migration crisis.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Dublin (II) Regulation was adopted in 2003, replacing the Dublin Convention signed in 1990. It “establishes the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an asylum application lodged in one of the Member States by a third-country national” (UNHCR.org).

  2. 2.

    “Green border means any territory between two official land border control points” (UNCCT 2018: 1).

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Correspondence to Đana Luša .

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Luša, Đ. (2021). Small States: “The Gatekeepers” of EU Borders During the Migration Crisis. In: Joensen, T., Taylor, I. (eds) Small States and the European Migrant Crisis. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66203-5_10

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