The secondary movements consist in the migrants’ tendency to travel between several EU countries after first arriving to EU territory, driven by different push-pull factors and in breach of the Dublin Regulation. They are both the reflection of asylum seekers’ need to reach countries with more appropriate reception conditions and better opportunities, and the direct outcome of the failure of many EU Member States in complying with their obligations under the Reception Conditions Directive and under the Qualification and Procedure Directives. Indeed, the broad disparities between national legislations in reception conditions, rate of recognition of applications and integration opportunities, determine migrants’ choice to move forward and avoid the identification procedures in specific Member States, to go further.
The purpose of this paper is to bring some light on this phenomenon, which is having a considerable impact, both on each Member State and on the CEAS in general. We will describe the major drivers of these movements, focusing on the specific case of the Italian border, the main gate both for asylum seekers’ comings and onward goings. Also, we will analyse the most relevant outcome of the ongoing situation, consisting in the risk of a “Schengen crisis”, originated by Member States’ decisions to re-introduce internal border controls and raise new border fences. Thus, the aim of this paper would be demonstrating how urgent is to re-build the system in compliance with the principles of solidarity and sharing-responsibilities between Member States, which have always been the cornerstone of the European legal integration process.
