IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jcmkts/v63y2025i1p143-159.html

An EU Sustainable Migration: Institutional Discourse and Migration Politics

Author

Listed:
  • Alezini Loxa

Abstract

From 2015 to 2016 onwards, migration has been subjected to intense political contestation within EU Member States. In this context, sustainable migration has become the new overarching objective of the Commission. Despite the various references to sustainable migration, a closer investigation of EU migration law and policy does not provide a coherent picture of the legal implications of this concept. This article examines the links between sustainability and migration in EU law and policy and suggests that sustainable migration should be perceived as a political concept that was central for EU migration politics following the so‐called migration crisis. Sustainable migration is a powerful tool at the hands of the Commission and has been used to forge consensus between Member States that might profoundly disagree on the future of EU migration. At the same time, the concept offers little guidance in terms of legal obligations for the protection of migrants.

Suggested Citation

  • Alezini Loxa, 2025. "An EU Sustainable Migration: Institutional Discourse and Migration Politics," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(1), pages 143-159, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:63:y:2025:i:1:p:143-159
    DOI: 10.1111/jcms.13612
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.13612
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jcms.13612?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mohammed Al-Husban & Carl Adams, 2016. "Sustainable Refugee Migration: A Rethink towards a Positive Capability Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(5), pages 1-10, May.
    2. Natascha Zaun & Ariadna Ripoll Servent, 2023. "Perpetuating Crisis as a Supply Strategy: The Role of (Nativist) Populist Governments in EU Policymaking on Refugee Distribution," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(3), pages 653-672, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dymitrow Mirek & Halfacree Keith, 2018. "Sustainability–differently," Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series, Sciendo, vol. 40(40), pages 7-16, June.
    2. Silvia Marcu, 2018. "Refugee Students in Spain: The Role of Universities as Sustainable Actors in Institutional Integration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-21, June.
    3. Julie C. Faure & Kasey M. Faust & Jessica Kaminsky, 2019. "Stakeholder Legitimization of the Provision of Emergency Centralized Accommodations to Displaced Persons," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-26, December.
    4. Paul Taggart, 2024. "The Unpolitics of Brexit," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 12.
    5. Fabio Wasserfallen & Théoda Woeffray, 2025. "Immigration Policy Preferences in Six EU Countries: The Shadow of Intergovernmental Conflicts in Public Opinion," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(3), pages 897-914, May.
    6. Himangshu Dutta, 2023. "The Environmental Aspects of Refugee Crises: Insights from South Asia, Middle East, and Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 913-938, June.
    7. Jaime Moreno-Serna & Teresa Sánchez-Chaparro & Leda Stott & Javier Mazorra & Ruth Carrasco-Gallego & Carlos Mataix, 2021. "Feedback Loops and Facilitation: Catalyzing Transformational Multi-Stakeholder Refugee Response Partnerships," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-21, October.
    8. Ana E. Juncos & Karolina Pomorska, 2024. "Populists in the Shadow of Unanimity: Contestation of EU Foreign and Security Policy," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 12.
    9. Wonjung Ryu & Sun Won Park, 2018. "Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Social Isolation among North Korean Refugee Women in South Korea: The Moderating Role of Formal and Informal Support," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-15, April.
    10. Himangshu Dutta, 2024. "Insights into different facets of the refugee crises–environment nexus," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 26(3), pages 1120-1143, December.
    11. Salle Salle & Zainuddin Zainuddin & Andi Risma, 2025. "Rohingya Refugees: The Indonesian Government’s Dilemma between Legal Responsibility and Humanitarian Responsibility," European Journal of Law and Political Science, European Open Science, vol. 4(2), pages 10-14, March.
    12. Laura Van Raemdonck, 2019. "Comparison of Four Different Livelihood Programmes for Urban Refugee Women in Durban, South Africa: Insights from the Capability Approach," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 497-519, May.
    13. Akane Bessho & Toru Terada & Makoto Yokohari, 2020. "Immigrants’ “Role Shift” for Sustainable Urban Communities: A Case Study of Toronto’s Multiethnic Community Farm," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-17, October.
    14. Ariadna Ripoll Servent & Natascha Zaun, 2024. "Under Which Conditions Do Populist Governments Use Unpolitics in EU Decision-Making," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 12.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:63:y:2025:i:1:p:143-159. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0021-9886 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.