Migration | Policy | EU | History
Waves or Refugee Crises? The Securitization of the Last Two Massive Refugee Waves in the EU
Originally published: June 9, 2023
Electronically published: October 22, 2025
Abstract:
The mass displacement of more than 8 million refugees resulting from the war in Ukraine constitutes the largest wave of refugees in Europe since World War II. The solidarity and coordinated reception efforts by EU member States present a completely different image compared to the refugee wave of 2015, when the EU appeared divided and largely closed off to refugees, with the Commission in conflict with several member States. The aim of this research is to analyse the response of EU member States to the 2022 wave and the explanatory factors behind it by comparing it with the response given in 2015. To achieve this, after reviewing the literature and confirming the differences in the management of both waves by the EU and its member States, it has been concluded —through a discourse analysis based on securitization theory— that this difference lies in the fact that, while in 2015 the wave was securitized mainly in opposition to refugees, in 2022 it was securitized around the refugees and in opposition to Russia, which was identified as the common enemy. This explains why the 2015 wave was criminalized and labelled a crisis, whereas the 2022 wave was treated as a consequence of war, framing the refugees as victims of the same side from the securitizing actors.
Key words: refugee wave, securitization, European Union, crisis, hosting of refugees, cooperation, threat, solidarity.
Introduction — 1
Theoretical framework — 2
i) The evolution of the concept of security and the Critical Security Studies — 2
ii) The securitization of migration in the EU — 5
iii) Critiques to the securitization theory — 6
iv) Joint securitizing action in Member States in 2015 and 2022 — 8
Methodology — 9
i) Selection of the sample — 9
ii) Descriptive analysis — 10
iii) Causal analysis — 10
Results — 12
a. Descriptive analysis — 12
i) The EU’s management of the two refugee waves — 12
ii) Member State management in line with the Commission instructions — 14
b. Causal analysis — 18
ii) Securitization of the 2015 wave — 18
ii) Securitization of the 2022 wave — 23
Conclusions — 33
Bibliographic References and Other Sources Consulted — 36
Annexes — 44
License/copyright: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
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