Periodic Reporting for period 2 - NoVaMigra (Norms and Values in the European Migration and Refugee Crisis)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2019-04-01 al 2021-07-31
The project Norms and Values in the European Migration and Refugee Crisis (NOVAMIGRA) reached the conclusion that recent European experiences with forced migration have not led to a change in values. It developed a precise understanding of core values and norms in Europe and presented extensive empirical research on the way these or other values and norms motivate or affect relevant political, administrative, and societal agents with regard to migration and the integration of migrants and refugees into European societies. NOVAMIGRA showed that in the context of the so-called refugee crisis, pre-existing differences in the understanding of values between the member states of the EU, but also among relevant actors within the respective countries, became more apparent. The fact that there has been no change in values, thus, does not mean that we can continue to assume an unproblematically shared foundation of values in the EU. Rather, the dialogue about the foundations of the European project must be conducted in a very targeted manner. As a point of reference for this, NOVAMIGRA suggested a rights-based democratic perspective for the EU and its member states that takes into account the different interpretations of values/norms and their possible development that have become visible in the refugee crisis, but also reflects anew on Europe’s global responsibility.
With these studies, NOVAMIGRA could draw a comprehensive picture of the values and norms that motivate or influence relevant political, administrative and social agents and how this affects migration and integration. As a result of this research, it can be stated that the values themselves have not changed significantly due to the “refugee crisis”. However, the respective values, even if they are supposedly shared, are interpreted and applied very differently. If there is a change, it is in new interpretations of the values. However, NOVAMIGRA assumes that in many cases we do not observe new interpretations. Around 2015, the impression of a change in values emerged because the different interpretations or applications of values became obvious and led to conflicts. So, it could no longer simply be assumed that the different European levels and agents act according to the same values, even if the values they follow have not necessarily changed.
Against the background of this empirical research and with a view to existing normative models of cosmopolitan order, NOVAMIGRA elaborated in its final step perspectives for the EU’s future development. Based on the premise that member states and relevant agents interpret European values differently, maintaining the current status quo proves to be suboptimal. Different understandings of what European values encompass lead to disintegrated and dysfunctional European governance in the field of flight and migration. The European institutions should therefore instead engage in a more robust normative dialogue with the member states to place migration policy on a more stable and integrated normative foundation. The rights-based democratic perspective for the EU and its member states that emerges from this takes into account different interpretations of European values and norms that became visible in the refugee crisis. By explicitly recognising a common mission in the area of flight and migration, Europe would at the same time assume its global responsibility.