Judicialisation of EU Migration Policies? An Analysis of the Inter-Play Between the Judiciary and the Legislators in Decision-Making Processes on EU Migration Legislation

The growing body of CJEU case law in the area of migration policies has over the years led to substantial changes to both the contents of these policies, as to the dynamics characterizing policy-making in this area. This paper sets out to analyze the forces at work within such ‘processes of judicialization’, with a particular focus on the relations and interactions between the EU Member States on the one hand and the CJEU on the other. On the basis of detailed process-tracing accounts of both the developments leading up to the referral of a number of landmark cases from national courts to the Luxembourg Court, as well as the subsequent developments after the CJEU’s judgments, the aim of this paper is to provide for the comprehensive documentation of the role of the CJEU within governance processes of migration policies. On the basis of the empirical findings, the paper will present conclusions regarding the extent to which ‘judicial activism’ can account for recent policy developments in this policy area.