Immigration Policy in the European Union: Still bringing up the walls for fortress Europe?

Abstract

Immigration and asylum policies in the European Union have entered into a new period. The author sums up the most important achievements and failures of the EU's efforts to create a common European asylum and immigration system, and she evaluates the new Hague Programme of the European Council (November 2004) in the light of the hitherto existing policies. She concludes that the European Council's new programme lags behind the more promising guidelines of its predecessor of Tampere.