The EU’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum: Intergovernmentalism, fragmentation and securitization.

The New Pact on Migration and Asylum was launched by the European Commission in September 2020. It was intended to break the deadlock in which the EU and the Member States were following the “refugee crisis'' in 2014-2016 and after the adoption of the New Agenda on Migration in 2016. The idea behind the Pact was to build a new consensus around key policies in the field of migration and asylum. Even though this consensus is not reached, the Pact proposes significant changes in several dimensions, from border management, solidarity mechanisms, to emergency measures and return. The overall visions reflect a move of the European Commission toward enhanced intergovernmentalism, fragmentation and securitization. The paper explores the formation of these policy preferences of the Commission, tracing the unfolding and impact of several crises in the period 2014 - 2020 and how key institutional and organizational actors reacted to it. First, we look at the Member States' policies and preferences within the Council and how they were shaped by internal and external actors Second, we look at how the European Parliament formed its positions and the extent it influenced the EC and third, how non-governmental actors mobilized to influence the policy reforms. The paper will compare the Junker and von der Leyen policy programs, identifying both continuities and changes and highlighting the political, ideological, administrative, and external drivers of the New Pact.