Redefinition of European Values in Times of Crisis: The Impact of the 'Securitization of Migration Flow' on EU's Normative Stance towards Turkey

This paper analyses how core European values have been (re)framed by the European political elite in response to the ‘refugee crisis’ within the context of EU-Turkey deal of 29 November 2015 and afterwards. More specifically, the paper examines the changes in the articulation of European values when the EU had to face a massive influx of migrants to Europe; and subsequently decided to re-energize Turkey’s accession process regardless of the reversal of the democratization process in Turkey in return for its support to limit the migrant flow to Europe. The main argument is that the securitization of the ‘migration flow to the EU’ by the European political elite led to the erosion of value-led political conditionality of the EU towards Turkey, hence led into an identity crisis for the Union. Until very recently, EU’s criticisms against Turkey were justified by Turkey’s decreasing level of commitment to the core European liberal values. However, identifying refugee flows towards Europe as an ‘unprecedented security threat’ to Europe resulted in EU’s prioritization of security interests of its citizens over the defense of its core values in its relations with a candidate country. Consequently, regardless of its normative considerations, the EU decided to revitalize its relations with an increasingly authoritarian regime. Therefore, the securitization of the refugee crisis justified political decisions outside the “normal” bounds of political procedure. Against this background, the paper sheds light on how European values change in relation to the context and as a result of a speech act by the European political elite. The paper uses content analysis of primary EU documents and discourse analysis of European political elite in a longitudinal research design in order to demonstrate how liberal European values, including especially democracy and rule of law that were defended in EU’s relations with candidates have been reframed in the aftermath of the refugee crisis.