Security, terrorism and asylum in the Schengen area

Abstract

This paper focusses on how EU member states addressed the refugee crisis and the free movement of persons within the Schengen Area in 2015 and early 2016. Security and terrorism have been used bycertain member states throughout the refugee crisis to justify the reintroduction of intra-Schengen border controls. This has placed considerable strain on one of the pillars of the EU. As well as analysing the argument of the threat to public order or domestic security in Schengen states and the reintroduction of emergency border controls, this paper covers the European Commission’s assessment of all of this and a legal evaluation of the states’ justifications.

Keywords

• refugees
• asylum
• Schengen Agreement
• borders
• European Commission
• terrorism
• security