After the mid-1980s, it became necessary to harmonise asylum policy of the European Union (EU) due to the increasing number of asylum applications and the removal of internal borders between the...Show moreAfter the mid-1980s, it became necessary to harmonise asylum policy of the European Union (EU) due to the increasing number of asylum applications and the removal of internal borders between the Member States. To this end, Member States firstly approximated their asylum policies through intergovernmental initiatives and then gradually communitarised asylum policy of the EU via treaty reforms. The Amsterdam Treaty put asylum policy, for the first time, under the Community competence and subsequent treaties further increased EU’s competence. Meanwhile, the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) has been established under three multi-annual programmes, namely the Tampere, the Hague and the Stockholm Programmes. This thesis explores to what extent the Member States have transferred their competence in asylum policy to the EU in particular since 1999 when the Amsterdam Treaty came into force and the CEAS was introduced. It accordingly analyses both primary and secondary EU law on asylum with a critical legal approach. The development of the common European asylum policy and its gradual shift from the national to the intergovernmental and eventually to the supranational level resulting from the transfer of competence are also analysed from a neo-functionalist perspective.Show less
