Papers by Edina Lilla Meszaros
From Exclusive Borders to Inclusive Frontiers in the Western Balkans, eds. Polgár István, Mircea Brie, Supplement of the Annals University of Oradea. International Relations and European Studies, Oradea/Debrecen, Oradea/Debrecen University Press, pp. 107-122, 2024
Russia invaded Ukraine, precipitating one of the most significant humanitarian crises in Europe s... more Russia invaded Ukraine, precipitating one of the most significant humanitarian crises in Europe since the conclusion of the Cold War and resulting in the mass displacement of millions of Ukrainian residents. Due to its neighbouring country status, Romania has been transited by millions of Ukrainian forced migrants since the start of the conflict. As regards bilateral relations, Romania and Ukraine do not only share a 649.4 km long border at land, sea and river, but also a common history. As graph no. 1 reveals, according to census data, Ukrainians represent the third biggest ethnic minority in Romania, following the Hungarians and the Roma, northern counties, such as Suceava and Maramureș hosting the largest number of ethnic
Eurolimes, edited by Edina Lilla Mészáros, Klára Czimre, Mykola Palinchak , 2022
Investigating the meaning and utility of borders/frontiers and also their timely evolution, has b... more Investigating the meaning and utility of borders/frontiers and also their timely evolution, has been on the agenda of researchers since antiquity. However, the specialised literature does not offer the reader a unified approach on the definition, rationale or classification of borders/frontiers. While some pundits identify them simply as geographic structures, other scholars confer them political, financial, judicial, affective, ideological, cultural or even symbolical meanings.1 Examining borders in terms of functionality, customarily, they were described as spatial demarcation lines delimiting the territory and the legal jurisdiction of a state entity. As regards terminology, the European and the American scholarly tradition have a different understanding of the concept under investigation. According to the European Border Studies, the border is an official delimitation line between collective entities, politically organised identities in states or equivalent of states, with a twofold identity, a political and a symbolical one. While from a political point of view, the function of the border is to protect a set of laws and regulations, in a symbolical sense, it appears as the defender of a set of norms, values, traditions and of cultural identities. Accordingly, a border is an imaginary line or area that delimits two territories or regions.
The Legitimacy of new Regionalism in the European Integration Process, eds. Polgar Istvan, Mircea Brie, Supplement of the Annals University of Oradea. International Relations and European Studies , 2023
As regards its position during the Cold War, the Yugoslav Federation
under Tito refused to be par... more As regards its position during the Cold War, the Yugoslav Federation
under Tito refused to be part of either of the two rival power blocks, adopting a policy of non-alignment. Following the Yugoslav wars and the disintegration of the federation, the Serbian leadership and the citizens apparently have chosen a pro-European path, becoming a member of the Council of Europe and also applying for EU membership.
However, within this paper we argue that despite Serbia applying for EU membership and gaining official candidate country status, in the past two decades its foreign policy towards the EU has been rather oscillating, an oscillation that is visible in the official public opinion polls as well. Applying the rational actor/choice model to its foreign policy, we arrive to the conclusion that especially from an economic perspective is more
advantageous for Serbian decision-makers and its citizens to collaborate with the EU than with the alternative proposed by the Russian Federation, and in the long run to gain full membership. On the other hand, with regard to language, history, culture, tradition and religion the affinity towards Russia is unquestionable. Furthermore, we have identified various clashes in the EU-Serbia nexus, where the position of the latter was rather critical if not contradictory to that of the Community, such as the constant
policy of conditioning, the problem of Christianity and of traditional family values, the Kosovo question, the 2015 migration/refugee crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic and the current war in Ukraine. Accordingly, this study has set as its main objective to examine and to understand the oscillations in Serbia’s relationship with the EU, mainly through the lens of the citizens, by undertaking an in-depth quantitative assessment of public opinion polls from the past two decades. It is being argued that despite its official
candidate country status and geographic proximity, Serbian citizens see their relationship with the EU mainly in transactional terms, their stance being characterised by a passive alignment to the values and direction set by the European Community, rather than an active engagement. The same attitude could be detected at the level of the vast majority of the Serbian political elite as well, who despite implementing sound
reforms for honouring the conditionality set by the Union in the 35 negotiation chapters, refused to vote the sanctions imposed by the EU on Russia.
Eastern Journal of European Studies, Vol. 14 (1), 2023
Taking into consideration the current developments as regards the intensification of the irregula... more Taking into consideration the current developments as regards the intensification of the irregular movement of third country nationals at the EU's border with Belarus, this paper sets as its main objective to assess the resilience building measures that were taken at the level of the affected Member States and that of the EU in order to manage the newly emerged border crisis. It is being argued that we are not dealing with an ordinary migration crisis, but a deliberate act of the Belarusian regime to instrumentalise migrants from the Middle East for political purposes. The research presents the facilitation of irregular immigration in a dual nexus, firstly as a hybrid warfare tool, and secondly, as a shock/stress factor disturbing the system or the prevalent status quo. After presenting the statistics on the modification of the illegal border-crossings between Belarus and the EU in the 2021-2022 period, we shall attempt to briefly analyse the resilience building measures to the hybrid threat of weaponizing migrants that were taken at both Community and Member State level, by grouping them in five resilience building categories: political/legal, institutional, inter-institutional, regulatory and societal.
Eurolimes, Vol. 30, Edited by Ioan HORGA, KOZMA Gábor, Yaroslav DROZDOVSKY, University of Oradea and University of Debrecen Publishing House, 2021
The current research is aimed at evaluating the potential of student and academic mobility undert... more The current research is aimed at evaluating the potential of student and academic mobility undertaken at universities from the CBC area (at the EU‟s Eastern border) in fostering the formation of cross-border academic communities. In order to reach the set objectives, following a brief presentation of the Erasmus+ mobility programme and its particularities for the countries from the Eastern Partnership, we have structured our research in five major directions, analysing the Erasmus+ mobility and of jointly developed projects between universities from the EU‟s Eastern border: firstly assessing the Romania-Republic of Moldova, then the Romania-Ukraine, the Poland-Ukraine, Poland-Belarus, and finally the Poland-Hungary-Slovakia-Ukraine nexus. As measurable outputs we took into consideration the existence of collaboration agreements, mobility schemes and the frequency of mobility, the number of jointly organized scientific events and commonly developed CBC projects.
Cross-border cooperation in the fight against organised crime at the EU's Eastern border
Proceedings of the 8th SWS International Scientific Conference on Social Sciences - ISCSS 2021, Vienna, Austria, 2021
The successive enlargements from 2004 and 2007 of the EU had extended its borders, leading not si... more The successive enlargements from 2004 and 2007 of the EU had extended its borders, leading not simply to the creation of a new and longer Eastern border, but also to a new border regime in the form of the European Neighbourhood Policy. With the enlargements the EU became a close neighbour of criminal groups originating from the Eastern neighbourhood, which by undertaking criminal activities have became a serious threat to the European welfare state system, leading to the implementation of consolidated security measures at its external borders. In order to tackle the various forms of organised crime, heavy securitization measures are not enough, and proactive cross-border cooperation is needed with the countries from the close vicinity. Accordingly, in the current research we target to assess the efficiency of cross-border cooperation in the fight against organised crime between the EU and the EaP countries, by evaluating the efficiency of two major EU initiatives in relation with the EaP countries in the field of security and law enforcement, one of its civilian missions launched under the aegis of CSDP, EUBAM and its past project, the Eastern Partnership Police Cooperation Programme.
At the summer camp held in Romania in 2014, the Hungarian Prime Minister presented to the audienc... more At the summer camp held in Romania in 2014, the Hungarian Prime Minister presented to the audience his groundbreaking political programme, foreseeing the setup of a new state model, that of the work-based state, based on illiberal democratic community organizing tenets. His announcement was accompanied by heavy criticism in the EU and also outside the community. Analysing and<br> understanding the path towards illiberal democracy in Hungary is the main objective of the current research. By using the world-systems theory of Wallerstein, we endeavour to assess the transition of Hungary towards illiberalism, as an outcome of its position occupied within the existent modern world-system and also that of a constant juggling of liberal and illiberal tendencies. Furthermore, we contend that the recent refugee crisis masterfully engineered as an existential threat by the governmental apparatus to the reference object (citizens), was deliberately used to consolidate domestic political ...
Content Analysis of the Presidential Elections in the Republic of Moldova,” in Europe in a Changing World. Opportunities and Challanges, edited by Florentina Chirodea, Constantin Vasile Țoca, Luminița Șoproni, Alina Stoica, Klára Czimre, Oradea & Debrecen, Oradea/Debrecen University Press, 2021
The Republic of Moldova has undergone a series of transformations throughout its history, especia... more The Republic of Moldova has undergone a series of transformations throughout its history, especially after 1991 when the first President of the Republic of Moldova was elected. However, from 1991 until now the country has faced a series of internal struggles, demonstrations, sometimes culminating in conflicts. Most often, the internal hostilities were the result of two antithetical beliefs, orientations: the first is in a direct connection with the nostalgia of the past, the nostalgic ones, oriented towards Russia, while the second one is the new pro-European orientation. The clash of these two directions in which the country would like to advance has provoked controversy, diametrically opposed positions and blockades most of the time, which have materialized through a stagnation of the Republic of Moldova on political, socio-economical and other levels. The current article aims to conduct a content analysis directly related to the first round of the presidential elections in the Republic of Moldova in 2020, where we will meet the same two competing directions presented above, the main actors being Maia Sandu (Pro-Europe) and Igor Dodon (Pro-Russia). In our analysis we will perform a trend analysis based on the established sample from the media. Through this inquiry we will try to unfold the trend analysis index through which we will be able to highlight the orientation, support of the examined newspapers and media outlets for one or another of the candidates registered in the presidential race of the Republic of Moldova.
European Studies. The Review of European Law, Economics and Politics, Vol. 8, Issue 1, Czech Republic, Wolters Kluwer, 2021
Due to today’s great societal challenges, such as climate change,
demographic boom, resource scar... more Due to today’s great societal challenges, such as climate change,
demographic boom, resource scarcity, urban settlements find themselves trained in a tense race of reforming their urban development strategies. Turning cities into smart settlements, by improving their waste management and energy consumption seems like the only viable solution for a prosperous and sustainable future. Moreover, statistics show that smart cities create an auspicious environment for the establishment of start-up, as they provide incentives for citizens with creative and entrepreneurial skills. Accordingly, the objective of the current study is twofold: in the first instance, we would
like to prove the existence of a causal link between the level of smart orientation
in a city and the spread of start-ups, namely, the smarter the city, the
bigger the number of start-ups, and vice versa by choosing as our case study, a city from the North-Western development region of Romania, Oradea; secondly, we stress, that the promotion of a collaborative governance model by the city leadership, involving all the stakeholders in the decision-making process enables smart orientation within a city.
Eastern Journal of European Studies, Vol. 11, 2020
The EU's Global Strategy for Foreign and Security Policy is based on five pillars, one of which p... more The EU's Global Strategy for Foreign and Security Policy is based on five pillars, one of which prioritizes state and societal resilience to the East and South. However, the promotion of state and societal resilience in its vicinity is not portrayed as a totally altruistic policy, being motivated also by rational considerations, as fragility beyond borders threatens the EU's vital interests, while a resilient state is a secure state, and security is crucial for prosperity and democracy. Accordingly, the current article has set as its main objectives the deciphering of what the European Community understands by state and societal resilience in its neighbourhood, and what mix of instruments is using for achieving it. We have chosen as our case study to examine the efficiency of the EUAM mission in resilience building in Ukraine. Within these lines we advance a multifaceted approach to resilience, as in our opinion, stability and prosperity in the Eastern vicinity cannot be achieved only through Deep and Comprehensive Trade Agreements, cross-border cooperation projects, various ENP instruments, but also through more active diplomacy, preventive measures and engagement in crises and conflict management under the auspices of the Common Security and Defence Policy.
Connecting the European Union of shared aims, freedoms, values and responsibilities. European Union and its values: freedom, solidarity, democracy, eds. Agnieszka Kłos, Jan Misiuna, Marta Pachocka, Aleksandra Szczerba-Zawada, CEDEWU, Warsaw , 2020
At the summer camp held in Romania in 2014, the Hungarian Prime Minister presented to the audienc... more At the summer camp held in Romania in 2014, the Hungarian Prime Minister presented to the audience his groundbreaking political programme, foreseeing the setup of a new state model, that of the work-based state, based on illiberal democratic community organizing tenets. His announcement was accompanied by heavy criticism in the EU and also outside the community. Analysing and understanding the path towards illiberal democracy in Hungary is the main objective
of the current research. By using the world-systems theory of Wallerstein, we endeavour to assess the transition of Hungary towards illiberalism, as an outcome of its position occupied within the existent modern world-system and also that of a constant juggling of liberal and illiberal tendencies. Furthermore, we contend that the recent refugee crisis masterfully engineered as an existential threat by the governmental apparatus to the reference object (citizens), was deliberately used to consolidate domestic political power.
Journal PECSA
The Review of European Affairs, Vol. 3, Issue 2, Polish European Community Studies Association (PECSA) Warsaw 2019, edited by Małgorzata Dziembała, Marta Pachocka, Edina Lilla Mészáros , 2019
The Review of European Affairs Volume 3:1(5) 2019, The Polish European Community Studies Association PECSA, 2019
This research examines the role Romania played in the current refugee/migration crisis, and the m... more This research examines the role Romania played in the current refugee/migration crisis, and the measures that it has taken in order to integrate the incoming refugees. Quantitative analysis was used in order to reveal the perceptions of the citizens towards the third country nationals at the beginning and after the refugee crisis. We argue that Romania represents a paradox, as it is mostly a country of emigrants with millions of Romanian citizens living, studying or working abroad in other EU/non-EU states. Thus, the question is, will Romania be able to handle the increased number of asylum claims from third country nationals and their subsequent accommodation and integration, if it cannot stop its own citizens from going abroad and making a living there?
Research and Science Today No. 2 (18), 2019
SINCE ANTIQUITY BORDERS HAVE GONE THROUGH MAJOR TRANSFORMATIONS, AND IF FOLLOWING THE SIGNING OF ... more SINCE ANTIQUITY BORDERS HAVE GONE THROUGH MAJOR TRANSFORMATIONS, AND IF FOLLOWING THE SIGNING OF THE TREATY OF WESTPHALIA THEIR MAIN PURPOSE WAS TO DELIMIT THE LEGAL JURISDICTION AND SOVEREIGNTY OF A STATE, BY THE 21ST CENTURY FRONTIERS HAVE TURNED INTO SOCIAL CONSTRUCTS WITH BOTH INCLUSIONARY AND EXCLUSIONARY FEATURES. BORDERS CAN HAVE AN INCLUSIONARY ROLE AS WELL, ACTING AS BRIDGES, CONNECTING PEOPLE AND CULTURES FROM THE TWO SIDES OF THE BORDER. HOWEVER, THE CURRENT RESEARCH WISHES TO EXAMINE MAINLY THE EXCLUSIONARY FEATURE OF BORDERS IN RELATION TO IMMIGRANTS AND REFUGEES BY USING THREE SPECIFIC CASE STUDIES FROM THE EU AND FROM THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ASSESSING WHETHER THE PROCESS OF FENCING OUT IMMIGRANTS AND REFUGEES AND OF BUILDING WALLS COULD BE A SOLUTION TO STOP UNWANTED MIGRATION. NAMELY, WE WISH TO SEE WHETHER BORDERS AND WALLS MAKE GOOD NEIGHBOURS OR NOT?
Muslim Minorities and the Refugee Crisis in Europe. Narratives and policy responses, edited by. Katarzyna Gorak-Sosnowska, Marta Pachocka and Jan Misiuna, Warsaw, SGH Publishing House Warsaw School of Economics, 2019
At the beginning of 2015 the EU was hit by an unprecedented number of third country nationals see... more At the beginning of 2015 the EU was hit by an unprecedented number of third country nationals seeking better life, asylum and international protection within its borders. This influx has shown that the community's present institutional and legislative framework is not suitable for the management of the crisis, leading to profound divisions among Member States. This division has become highly visible with the emergence of fragmented media coverage and public discourse along national/supranational lines, expressing the EU's incapability to provide a scene for genuine discussions amongst Member States. Therefore, this article endeavours to present in a sequential way how the Hungarian government has framed the refugee crisis since 2015, influencing the public opinion, turning into an agent of (in) security and manager of anxiety. Using Giorgio Agamben's state of exception approach it shall be revealed how the declaration of state of emergency and the framing of the refugee/ migration crisis as an existential threat enabled the Hungarian government to undertake measures which under normal conditions wouldn't be possible. Departing from the fact that the vast majority of the refugees/migrants coming to the EU and to Hungary were Muslims, our research also wishes to demystify the self and other dichotomy (the Christian self and the Muslim other), analyzing how the Muslim migrants/refugees were portrayed by the Hungarian governmental apparatus and media.
Governance, Intelligence and Security in the 21st Century, , Craiova, Editura Sitech, eds. Adrian IVAN, Cristian GĂZDAC, Claudiu Marian, 2018, ISBN 978-606-11-6293-2, 2018
Traditionally the EU has been a civilian power, leaving the conduct of its security issues in the... more Traditionally the EU has been a civilian power, leaving the conduct of its security issues in the hands of the North Atlantic Organisation. The end of the Cold War and the new millennium brought new security challenges making it harder and harder for the USA to play the role of the "world's gendarme" and to carry on its shoulders the burdens of the entire humanity, needing the help of its European allies, which demanded that their concerns to be taken serious, and to be consulted by their transatlantic counterpartners, the USA not being able to shape any further the transatlantic policies accroding to its own interest. This paper wants to initiate the reader in the European security architecture, emphasizing its relationship with the NATO, wondering if this "great experiment" called the European Union will be ever able to rise above its condition and to provide its own and its neighbourhood's security without any kind of foreign assistance.
Eurolimes , 2018
Within the current research we shall make an endeavour to analyse how the need for security contr... more Within the current research we shall make an endeavour to analyse how the need for security contributed to the appearance of new frontiers in Europe after the end of the First and Second World War and how in today‟s Europe/EU security unfolds as a result of appearance of frontiers. We believe that the need for security contributes to the change and emergence of new frontiers (border walls, barriers), and the change of borders (through enlargements, the European integration process, the elimination of the borders between the Member States of the Community/European Union and the creation of an external border with third countries) as a counter-effect leads to the generation of other security concerns in the European Union, including the fear of illegal immigrants, terrorism, smuggling, criminal groups, demanding and justifying increased securitization of the external borders. More precisely we wish to highlight how the subsequent modification of frontiers after the end of WWI/WW2 and the establishment of a border free regime as part of the European integration process led to the creation of an internal Schengen security dilemma and the securitization of the Community‟s external borders and subsequently the securitization of migration, in this equation the need for security appearing in a causation nexus, as a result of the emergence of a border free regime within Schengen.
Eurolimes 22, 2016
The article is aimed at identifying the existing link between the media
and the predominant narra... more The article is aimed at identifying the existing link between the media
and the predominant narrative on migration and asylum in the construction of public belief and the elaboration of various governing processes concerning migration and asylum, by carrying out a comparative multilevel analysis of public discourses launched
by the political leaders in different Member States and by the representatives of EU institutions during the current refugee/migration crisis begun in 2015. We believe that by undertaking a multilevel comparative critical discourse analysis concerning the current
migration crisis, we could better comprehend the elaborated policy actions and governing processes both at intergovernmental and supranational level.
Moldavian Journal of International Law and International Relations, 2017
Let’s imagine the international security environment as a chess table with various pieces making ... more Let’s imagine the international security environment as a chess table with various pieces making different moves and the way they move on the board, gives them different values in the game. The main question is
whether the European Union is the most valuable piece, the queen or the weakest one, the pawn, namely we wish to disclose whether the EU is „going global” being able to spread its norms and extend its power in various parts of the world, detaining strategic autonomy in security affairs. This „unidentified political object” (EU), as named by Jacques Delors in its close neighbourhood has an enormous political and economic influence, however, in the global arena, where actors play by different rules the Union has limited power. The dilemma is if in this competitive international milieu the Union is able to expand its regional polity being more than just a regional security provider, becoming a global security maker. As stated by Javier Solana, the period of peace and stability in Europe at the end of the twentieth and the beginning of this century, is largely due to the existence of the European Union. This Union has not only generated a high level of economic development
on the old continent, but also a new approach to security, based on the concept of peacemaking, through peaceful settlement of disputes and via international multilateral cooperation.
Eurolimes , 2017
The desire to control and monitor third country nationals entering the
European Community//Europ... more The desire to control and monitor third country nationals entering the
European Community//European Union led to the creation of various databases during the process of European integration. When communism ended and the Iron Curtain was lifted, the people from the neighbouring countries were expecting the opening of the borders of the European Community, but on the contrary the Iron Curtain, under the auspices of the security-centred provisions of the Schengen Convention and later Maastricht, has turned into a lace curtain designed to exclude citizens from the other side of the border. Under the auspices of the so-called Schengen security dilemma, the strengthening of the external borders was a precondition for the creation of an area of free movement without any border controls for the Community citizens. As our main
hypothesis we argue that, on the one hand the creation of various databases for the registration and monitoring of immigrants such as the Schengen Information System (SIS), the Visa Information System (VIS) and the European Central Automated Fingerprint Identification System (EURODAC) is a consequence of the prevailing internal Schengen security dilemma, while on the other hand the abundance of the existing databases as well the introduction of new technologies such as the Eurosur or the Smart Borders Initiative will transform the border and migrant monitoring into a 2.0 control in the European Union. The migrant/refugee crisis started in 2015 seems to validate this hypothesis, as the Union puts an even bigger emphasize on these databases and new cutting edge technologies meant to halt the arrival of irregular immigrants on EU territory and to filter out not bona fide travellers. Furthermore, we consider that the creation of a European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union (Frontex) on the first hand and later its transformation into a European Border and Coast Guard Agency with enhanced powers, also subscribes within this train of thoughts.
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Papers by Edina Lilla Meszaros
under Tito refused to be part of either of the two rival power blocks, adopting a policy of non-alignment. Following the Yugoslav wars and the disintegration of the federation, the Serbian leadership and the citizens apparently have chosen a pro-European path, becoming a member of the Council of Europe and also applying for EU membership.
However, within this paper we argue that despite Serbia applying for EU membership and gaining official candidate country status, in the past two decades its foreign policy towards the EU has been rather oscillating, an oscillation that is visible in the official public opinion polls as well. Applying the rational actor/choice model to its foreign policy, we arrive to the conclusion that especially from an economic perspective is more
advantageous for Serbian decision-makers and its citizens to collaborate with the EU than with the alternative proposed by the Russian Federation, and in the long run to gain full membership. On the other hand, with regard to language, history, culture, tradition and religion the affinity towards Russia is unquestionable. Furthermore, we have identified various clashes in the EU-Serbia nexus, where the position of the latter was rather critical if not contradictory to that of the Community, such as the constant
policy of conditioning, the problem of Christianity and of traditional family values, the Kosovo question, the 2015 migration/refugee crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic and the current war in Ukraine. Accordingly, this study has set as its main objective to examine and to understand the oscillations in Serbia’s relationship with the EU, mainly through the lens of the citizens, by undertaking an in-depth quantitative assessment of public opinion polls from the past two decades. It is being argued that despite its official
candidate country status and geographic proximity, Serbian citizens see their relationship with the EU mainly in transactional terms, their stance being characterised by a passive alignment to the values and direction set by the European Community, rather than an active engagement. The same attitude could be detected at the level of the vast majority of the Serbian political elite as well, who despite implementing sound
reforms for honouring the conditionality set by the Union in the 35 negotiation chapters, refused to vote the sanctions imposed by the EU on Russia.
demographic boom, resource scarcity, urban settlements find themselves trained in a tense race of reforming their urban development strategies. Turning cities into smart settlements, by improving their waste management and energy consumption seems like the only viable solution for a prosperous and sustainable future. Moreover, statistics show that smart cities create an auspicious environment for the establishment of start-up, as they provide incentives for citizens with creative and entrepreneurial skills. Accordingly, the objective of the current study is twofold: in the first instance, we would
like to prove the existence of a causal link between the level of smart orientation
in a city and the spread of start-ups, namely, the smarter the city, the
bigger the number of start-ups, and vice versa by choosing as our case study, a city from the North-Western development region of Romania, Oradea; secondly, we stress, that the promotion of a collaborative governance model by the city leadership, involving all the stakeholders in the decision-making process enables smart orientation within a city.
of the current research. By using the world-systems theory of Wallerstein, we endeavour to assess the transition of Hungary towards illiberalism, as an outcome of its position occupied within the existent modern world-system and also that of a constant juggling of liberal and illiberal tendencies. Furthermore, we contend that the recent refugee crisis masterfully engineered as an existential threat by the governmental apparatus to the reference object (citizens), was deliberately used to consolidate domestic political power.
and the predominant narrative on migration and asylum in the construction of public belief and the elaboration of various governing processes concerning migration and asylum, by carrying out a comparative multilevel analysis of public discourses launched
by the political leaders in different Member States and by the representatives of EU institutions during the current refugee/migration crisis begun in 2015. We believe that by undertaking a multilevel comparative critical discourse analysis concerning the current
migration crisis, we could better comprehend the elaborated policy actions and governing processes both at intergovernmental and supranational level.
whether the European Union is the most valuable piece, the queen or the weakest one, the pawn, namely we wish to disclose whether the EU is „going global” being able to spread its norms and extend its power in various parts of the world, detaining strategic autonomy in security affairs. This „unidentified political object” (EU), as named by Jacques Delors in its close neighbourhood has an enormous political and economic influence, however, in the global arena, where actors play by different rules the Union has limited power. The dilemma is if in this competitive international milieu the Union is able to expand its regional polity being more than just a regional security provider, becoming a global security maker. As stated by Javier Solana, the period of peace and stability in Europe at the end of the twentieth and the beginning of this century, is largely due to the existence of the European Union. This Union has not only generated a high level of economic development
on the old continent, but also a new approach to security, based on the concept of peacemaking, through peaceful settlement of disputes and via international multilateral cooperation.
European Community//European Union led to the creation of various databases during the process of European integration. When communism ended and the Iron Curtain was lifted, the people from the neighbouring countries were expecting the opening of the borders of the European Community, but on the contrary the Iron Curtain, under the auspices of the security-centred provisions of the Schengen Convention and later Maastricht, has turned into a lace curtain designed to exclude citizens from the other side of the border. Under the auspices of the so-called Schengen security dilemma, the strengthening of the external borders was a precondition for the creation of an area of free movement without any border controls for the Community citizens. As our main
hypothesis we argue that, on the one hand the creation of various databases for the registration and monitoring of immigrants such as the Schengen Information System (SIS), the Visa Information System (VIS) and the European Central Automated Fingerprint Identification System (EURODAC) is a consequence of the prevailing internal Schengen security dilemma, while on the other hand the abundance of the existing databases as well the introduction of new technologies such as the Eurosur or the Smart Borders Initiative will transform the border and migrant monitoring into a 2.0 control in the European Union. The migrant/refugee crisis started in 2015 seems to validate this hypothesis, as the Union puts an even bigger emphasize on these databases and new cutting edge technologies meant to halt the arrival of irregular immigrants on EU territory and to filter out not bona fide travellers. Furthermore, we consider that the creation of a European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union (Frontex) on the first hand and later its transformation into a European Border and Coast Guard Agency with enhanced powers, also subscribes within this train of thoughts.