The European Union migration policy towards the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean during the period 2011-2018.

Abstract

Europe has been the scene of migratory processes throughout its history. However, the number of refugees and asylum seekers in recent years is close to the numbers present in the great armed conflicts of the 20th century and is higher than the volumes recorded in the 1990s, after the disintegration of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. In the period 2011-2018, the European Union's migration policy was selective and xenophobic in order to prevent the entry into its territory of all those persons attempting to do so by irregular means, to expel the millions of undocumented immigrants already residing there and to retain highly qualified personnel. European migration policy has been unable to provide an effective response to the Mediterranean refugee crisis.