Taking back control from Brussels: the renationalization of the EU migration and asylum policies
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The report analyzes the thirty-year operation of the European Union's common migration policy in terms of its effectiveness. The authors question whether the Union truly performs better than member states in achieving treaty objectives regarding border control, deportation of illegal immigrants, and conclusion of readmission agreements.
The authors argue that the international legal framework from the 1950s does not correspond to contemporary migration realities. They present eighteen reform proposals, including: an opt-in/opt-out mechanism for member states modeled on Danish and Irish solutions, the possibility of temporary derogations from selected international obligations, and a revision of the interpretation of the non-refoulement principle.
The document presents detailed legal and economic arguments in favor of restoring broader autonomy to member states in shaping migration and asylum policy.
Rodrigo Ballester is the Head of the Center for European Studies at the Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) in Budapest since 2021. He is a former EU official with 16 years of experience, 13 of them in the European Commission, including as a member of cabinet to Hungarian Commissioner Tibor Navracsics. He holds a law degree from San Pablo CEU University and an LL.M. in European Law from the College of Europe (2002) in Bruges. He is a former professor at Sciences Po Paris (Dijon campus), actively publishes and appears in the press (Le Figaro, Atlantico.fr, ElDebate.es, Gaceta, Mandiner, Index, Kossuth Radio, El Toro TV, M1, Hír TV). In 2024, was appointed Ministerial Commissioner for the internationalization strategy of Hungarian universities.
Viktor Marsai is the Executive Director of the Migration Research Institute (MRI) in Budapest. He graduated from Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) with degrees in History and Aesthetics and obtained a PhD in History in 2014, focusing on state-building in Somalia. He also earned a postgraduate degree in Security and Defense Policy from Zrínyi Miklós National Defense University. Marsai previously worked
at the Hungarian Ministry of Defense and taught at the National University of Public Service and Pázmány Péter Catholic University. A recipient of the János Bolyai Research Scholarship, he has led several research projects on African security and migration. His main research areas include migration dynamics on the African continent and the security aspects of migration.
Róbert Gönczi is an analyst at the Migration Research Institute in Budapest and a PhD student at the Doctoral School of International Relations and Political Science at Corvinus University of Budapest. His research focuses on the instrumentalization of migration and its implications for international security, with particular attention to hybrid threats and defense policy. Combining academic analysis with practical policy insights, his work contributes to both scholarly discourse and strategic decision-making. He holds a Master’s degree in International Relations with a specialization in Diplomacy from Corvinus University of Budapest and a Bachelor’s degree in International Security and Defense Policy from the Ludovika University of Public Service. He has conducted research at the Warsaw Institute and published with the MIT Center for International Studies and the Limen Journal.
Yann Caspar is a Franco-Hungarian journalist and researcher at the Center for European Studies at the Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) in Budapest. He holds a Master’s degree in European Union Law and a degree in Law and Economics from the University of Nancy (France). He specializes in political, legal, and economic issues in Central Europe, particularly Hungary, and has lived in Budapest since 2013. He regularly contributes to French and Hungarian media outlets on European affairs, media freedom, and the rule of law, and serves as a consultant for international journalists covering the region.
Jerzy Kwaśniewski is the President and co-founder of the Ordo Iuris Institute, Chairman of the Ordo Iuris Foundation Council, and managing partner at Parchimowicz & Kwaśniewski Law Firm. A graduate of the University of Warsaw, with additional studies at the University of Copenhagen and the University of Notre Dame, he specializes in civil litigation, penal proceedings, and the protection of civil and family rights. Kwaśniewski has represented citizens and civil society organizations in landmark cases before national and international courts and advised organizations on human rights matters. He has held advisory roles for four Polish Ministers of Justice and is a member of the International Association of Genocide Scholars and the International Bar Association. Recognized as one of Poland’s most influential lawyers, he was named among Politico’s “28 most powerful people in Europe in 2021.”
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