This issue reviews a vote on one of the most controversial topics in the 2014-19 legislature: the EP vote of 17 September 2015 establishing an emergency relocation scheme for 120.000 asylum seekers from Italy and Greece. The vote illustrates a geographic rift between Eastern and Western/Southern EU countries about adequate solidarity measures in response to the ‘migration crisis’, which continue to hamper negotiations on the reform the Common European Asylum System. It also reveals a value-based cleavage between the political left and centre on the one hand, and the right and far-right on the other. These patterns are mirrored in the voting behaviour of French and German MEPs.
Policy
25.04.2019