The Common European Asylum System : Challenges and Opportunities in Greece. A Case Study

Abstract: This thesis aims to investigate decision-making and policy implementation in the European Union, specifically regarding the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) and to compare how the political intention corresponds to the reality of its implementation, using the example of Greece. Europe’s ability to handle migration and refugee flows has been severely tested in recent years due to the large number of people fleeing wars in Central Asia and the Middle East. The CEAS constitutes a fairly modern endeavor compared to other regional programs concerned with refugee protection but it has not yet made a significant improvement in how refugees are treated. At the same time, Greece has been in an acute socio-economic crisis since at least 2010. European integration has traditionally been subject to theoretical analysis through Moravcsiik’s Liberal Intergovernmentalism and various forms of formalism. This thesis has tried to apply Historical Institutionalism to explain certain facets of the CEAS and the recent and on-going ‘refugee’ crisis. In combination with other theories, Institutionalism can contribute to an understanding of recent forces towards further integration and divergence in the European Union.