Europe and a bowl of „hot potatoes“

the Dublin system

Abstract

The Dublin system is aimed at determining, as soon as possible and as clearly as possible, the Member State responsible for examining an asylum claim lodged by a third country national or a stateless person in one of the Member States. The Dublin Regulation sets governing rules for the responsibility determination procedure. In 2015, however, it became evident that the system is unsuitable to operate under such circumstances. Member States had to bear more and more, while the criteria of hierarchy, as laid down in the Dublin Regulation, were replaced by a mechanic, automatic application of the regulation. Nevertheless, this was not beneficial for the Member States or either for the asylum-seekers. Consequently, deficiencies of the system had become more and more visible. The reform of the Dublin system was seen as remedy for all the pain, but with the decline in migration influx, problems seemed to be less of burning importance and proposals appear less realistic.