The European Union is moving towards further restricting asylum. Indeed, the new agreement agreed on December 20 rejects the proposed minimum age for detention of illegal arrivals, or family protection. Until nowHowever, refugees continue to cross unconventional paths as they face wars, political instability, persecution and the worsening effects of climate disasters.
Researcher Olena Yermakova points out that the so-called “warm welcome” received by Ukrainian refugees in 2022 was actually a special case, but the level was very low indeed. Policy consultant Martin Wager argues that cheap political gains govern European politics, even against clear needs and interests.
Refugees play a crucial role in European life and politics. While the European Union boasts of its commitment to supporting human rights, it simultaneously implements repressive measures against them. This polarity is reflected in the extent to which Ukrainian refugees are treated differently from asylum seekers coming from other countries. While the first ones obtained temporary protection status to escape Russian aggression, The latter must be subject to more stringent procedures as their chances of obtaining protected status erode.
In this episode, we discuss these asylum requirements along with anti-immigration and anti-discrimination policies and their legal implications with guest speakers.
Martin Wagner He is a senior asylum policy advisor at the International Center for Migration Policy Development. He specializes in European and international refugee law, human rights and anti-discrimination. Wagner has authored several studies on European asylum systems, and has experience in providing legal aid, law enforcement monitoring, as well as capacity building projects in different countries.
Olena Ermakova He is an interdisciplinary researcher focusing on migration to Central and Eastern Europe. She was awarded a Junior Visiting Fellowship in the “Ukraine in European Dialogue” program at the Institute for the Humanities (IWM) in Vienna. Yermakova continues her research on Ukrainian migrant workers in Poland at the Research Center for the History of Transformations at the University of Vienna.
We meet them at The Alte Schmiede Kunstverein, Vienna.
Creative team
Rika Kinga Papp, Editor-in-Chief
Murphy Akiel, Artistic Director
Zylvia Pinter, producer
Zofia Gabriella Babb, executive producer
Margareta Lechner, writer and editor
Salma Shaka, writer and editor
Priyanka Hutchenreiter, Project Assistant
administration
Hermann Riesner General Manager
Judit Ksikos is project manager
Ms. Chela Kardos, Office Administration
Octo crew
Senad Hergić is producer
Video recording by Leah Hochdlinger
Video recording by Marlena Stolzi
Clemens Schmidbauer video recording
Audio recording by Richard Prosek
Budapest video crew
Nora Roszkay, audio engineering
Gergely Aaron Babai, Photography
Laszlo Halasz, photography
Post production
Nora Roszkay, lead video editor
Rika Kinga Papp, The Conversation Editor
art
Animation by Victor Maria Lima
Cornelia Frischoff, theme music
Captions and subtitles
Julia Sobotta, Daniela Unifazo, Mars Zaslavsky, Marta Verdibar, Olena Yermakova, Farah Ayyash
sources
'Historic day': EU reaches major deal to reform migration policy after three years of bitter debate Jorge Liborero at Euronews
The Way Home by Olena Yermakova in Eurozine
What do we know about refugee employment in Germany? By Herbert Brooker, Yulia Kosyakova. IAB Forum.
Related readings
One way or another By Chiara Pagano in Eurozine
A Phase of Forgetting: A Meta-Synthesis of Refugee Borderlines. Phil R. Harttunen, Berti Vaisinen, Liisa Karlsson, and Seneka Polanen. IAAP Journals.
disclosure
This talk show is produced by Display Europe: a leading media platform based on public values.
This program is jointly funded by the European Union's Creative Europe Program and the European Cultural Foundation.
Importantly, the views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the authors and speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for it.
