Informalizing Asylum in the European Parliament: Can Political Ideologies Make a Difference?

The EU (European Union) has been a critical actor in supporting in establishing rights based asylum governance since the WW2. Member states have been safe havens for thousands of forced migrants from different parts of the world. Europeanization processes, on the other hand, contributed to establishing formal asylum governance in close neighborhood. Still, the Union has lost significantly from such pioneering role especially after “the migration crisis” in 2015. With its primary emphasis in keeping “the Fortress Europe” safe, the Union disregards the decay of fundamental rights and liberties. Non-binding instruments agreements take place of established rules and regulations. A strand of literature addresses political ideology as a key element in shaping stances on asylum governance (Aydemir, 2022; Van Gorp, 2005; Van Prooijen et.al., 2017). Some empirical research, on the other hand, are suspicious about the role of political ideology in bringing differences (Hinnfors et al., 2012; Odmalm, 2011. Most of these studies, however, are on national cases. This paper studies how political actors with different ideologies approach informalization of asylum in decision-making mechanisms in the EU. A content analysis merging qualitative and quantitative techniques will be used to identify relevant framings as well as understanding the role of ideology and other factors behind possible variations. Parliamentary questions are analyzed for opening room to express individual preferences most freely when compared with other parliamentary activities. The study covers a time period from 2009 to 2021 – enabling an analysis of a wide range of factors in a time period more than a decade. Keywords: informalization, asylum governance, the EU, content analysis