Since 1 January 2021, the UK is no longer bound to the Dublin framework, Eurodac and other essential components of the EU migration and asylum system. As a result, asylum seekers, including unaccompanied minors, face significant barriers in joining their family members who reside in the UK. At the same time, there is no framework to facilitate returns from the UK to EU member states. Anti-smuggling cooperation is also limited.
Following record levels of crossings in the English Channel in 2021, both the UK and the EU have acknowledged the need to strengthen their border management capacity. However, the discussion on future EU-UK relations has focused strongly on migration control, side-lining possible areas of further cooperation, such as mobility schemes for people with protection needs.
Against this background, the European Policy Centre (EPC) and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF) have come together to set up the project ‘Post-Brexit EU-UK Cooperation on Migration and Asylum’, which will explore the consequences of the current lack of a cooperation framework, focussing on family reunifications and returns, and examine possible ways forward. The project involves the organisation of two closed-door roundtable discussions and will result in the publication of an EPC Discussion Paper. The paper will shed light on the current status of the EU-UK partnership and will put forward a set of detailed policy recommendations for strengthening their future cooperation on migration and asylum.