With the wider geopolitical instability that has arisen in the last few years in Africa, Central and West Asia and the Middle East, with destabilisation and war in Syria, refugee flows mainly from Turkey to Greece and on to the countries of Northern Europe have increased dramatically since the summer of 2015. In view of the apparent lack of a common EU immigration policy, the hesitations, the rigidities of the European institutions and the division of European leaders, dealing with the multifaceted refugee crisis so far has proven extremely difficult and inefficient to the extent that it threatens the cohesion of Europe.

This dossier highlights aspects of the refugee crisis. It analyses the lack of policies that have made the crisis hardly manageable by the EU Member States, following the tide of refugees from the war zone of the Middle East and describing the situation they face in Lebanon, Turkey, Greece and other Balkan countries until they reach a safe destination.