The European Union’s Policy on Search and Rescue in the New Pact on Migration and Asylum: Inter-State Cooperation, Solidarity and Criminalization

Abstract

The New Pact for Migration and Asylum, proposed by the European Commission in September 2020, embeds a comprehensive and multi-layered strategy addressing migration, asylum, border management and infra-European solidarity. The pact aims to create fair migration processes, building mutual trust among Member States and leading to more efficient burden-sharing mechanisms in the reception of migrants. Building on a preliminary analysis of the faults characterizing current EU policies on migration, this contribution aims at examining the rules on search and rescue contained in the Commission’s package proposal, with a view to identifying the problematic features of this aspect of the proposal, and putting forth some ideas for amendment or improvement.