Marie De Somer - Dublin, Schengen and the Need for Political Leadership
Channel: IIEA
Date: 2019-06-04

In her address to the IIEA, Dr De Somer gives an overview of the Dublin Regulation and how it has impacted on the Schengen Area. The Dublin III Regulation establishes the Member State responsible for examining an asylum application primarily based on the first point of irregular entry. Over the past few years this has placed disproportionate pressure on frontline Member States, including Italy, Greece and Malta. With regard to the Schengen Area, there are concerns that internal border controls are being upheld long past any reasonable policy justification. Dr De Somer argues that in the absence of political leadership, the two systems risk collapsing and offers suggestions on what the future of both systems might look like.

Q&A Begins at 42:39

About the Speaker:

Dr De Somer is Head of the Migration and Diversity Programme at the European Policy Centre (EPC) in Brussels. She is also a Guest Professor at the KU Leuven (Belgium) where she teaches EU Human Rights Law. Prior to joining the EPC, she worked at the European Commission, Maastricht University and at the Centre for European Policy Studies.

Dr De Somer has published several articles and policy briefs on the EU’s migration policies with a specific focus on EU family reunification, asylum law and the Schengen free movement area. She regularly comments on EU migration policy developments for international and European media. Marie holds a PhD from Maastricht University and master degrees from the KU Leuven and the London School of Economics.

Filmed on the 28th of May 2019