Paper Titles & Abstracts

The purpose of this article is to study the role of the European Union (EU) in the construction of immigration and security policies since the discussions over the revision of the Schengen Agreement and the Arab Spring. With these two events, the EU's policy for immigration and security has turned into a new step. The agency for border control, FRONTEX, is receiving bigger support, at the same time that the internal space of Europe created by the Schengen Agreement is being threatened by calls for Schengen revision. Since 1995, the external borders have been fortified to create a space of security, which now, debates to create a new clause to allow the restoration of internal borders of the Member States in case of high flows of migrants are in consideration. The Arab Spring reinforces this new reality, with Europe facing the flee of thousands of immigrants to the continent, in which the maintenance of the internal security is the main objective, having direct impact in the Schengen revision debates. With the support of the securitization theory and the literature about the securitization of immigration in Europe, I argue that the Organization, trying to keep its characteristics of an united Europe, acts on the way to support the integration and its interests, while on the other hand, the EU's principles of human rights, specially dealing with immigrants, are in second place.