Is a distribution key system the solution to the EU’s refugee crisis?

by Nando Sigona

The Dublin regulation in its three incarnations has attracted plenty of criticism on various grounds and from various statutory and non-statutory actors – the most noticeable perhaps being it is a system that impact unevenly on EU member states, with countries at the EU’s southern border particularly exposed because of their position. These countries have traditionally responded to the pressure imposed by the Dublin regulation in two ways – formally, demanding more solidarity from other member states and a different system altogether; informally, letting people slip through their bureaucratic net not finger-printing them (see Italy) or allowing such poor reception conditions for asylum seekers to force other member states to stop returning so called ‘Dublin cases’ on human rights ground (see Greece).

The events of the last months have de facto led to the suspension of the Dublin regulation and further intensified the call for a substantial revamp of…