Roundtable on Hungary/EU relations: managing the migration crisis
10 March 2016, Institut d’Etudes Européennes (Geremek room), 39 avenue Franklin Roosevelt, Brussels
In a context of political tension facing a migration flux without precedent, Hungary undertook a series of initiatives to regulate the transit of some 400 000 migrants on its territory in 2015. Among the most emblematic measures is the building of fences at the country borders with Serbia, Slovenia, Romania and Croatia. Besides the fact that it made the securing of its borders a priority, the Hungarian government also thinks in line with the EU external policy that the actual crisis can only be solved in its roots, meaning solving the situation in the origin countries and reinforce development aid. Tensions have arisen between the EU and the Magyar state about the migration crisis. They are mostly about the question of an imposed distribution of asylum seekers in the country where they were firstly registered – distribution seen as inefficient and interventionist.
This roundtable was the occasion to give a voice to Hungarian authorities on their highly publicised management of the unprecedented migration phenomenon that they face and on their cooperation with other EU member states in this field. The debate will be animated by two academics, specialists of the topic discussed : Marianne Dony, Ordinary Professor at ULB and Jean Monnet Chair in EU law and Jean-Michel De Waele, Ordinary Professor at ULB and Vice-Rector for student affairs, social policy and institutional relations.
More information can be found here.