The Solidarity Principle and the Current Migration Emergency

The management of the current migrant emergency is revealing deep divisions among the EU member states. Fundamental EU texts refer to European solidarity, opening the door both to inter-state solidarity and to a role for the member states and the Union itself in promoting social rights. The dramatic consequences of the current migration crisis call for a new understanding of the nature of European solidarity and for its establishment as a point of reference in the current European narrative. This chapter argues that the current absence of solidarity between the member states makes it difficult to justify the transformation of Frontex, the external borders agency, into a new agency. Instead, the European Asylum Support Office should be transformed into an EU asylum agency. Such a measure would relieve the burden on those member states that receive the greatest numbers of refugees.