Environmental Migrants and the EU Immigration and Asylum Law: Is There any Chance for Protection?

Abstract

This contribution discusses some legal options aimed at protecting environmental migrants (EMs) within the EU, none of which however proves to be fully satisfactory mainly due to the lack of (at least) a European common legal definition. On the one hand, the legal framework for international protection according to the Qualification Directive has shown to be inadequate, insofar as neither refugee status nor subsidiary protection status are fit for purposes of EMs; also the Temporary Directive and the possibility of adopting temporary non-legislative measures according to Article 78(3) TFUE look like unsatisfactory. On the other hand, humanitarian provisions in the Visa Code, the Schengen Borders Code and the Return Directive are not viable legal instruments because they are non-mandatory for Member States. Furthermore, protection against removal orders according to relevant human rights law applicable in the EU is not a valid solution for all cases. Finally, it should be noted that reset- tlement programmes, humanitarian admission schemes, private sponsorships and protection within Regional Development and Protection Programmes might be use- ful only in specific cases. As a conclusion, we stress the need for a European ad hoc legal instrument dealing with every aspect of the protection of EMs.