The Constitutional Dimension of Admission and Integration in the Shared Legal Order of the European Union

Abstract

This chapter examines the constitutional dimension of admission and integration in the shared legal order of the European Union (EU). It assumes that constitutionalism in the EU refers to the co-existence of 27 national constitutional orders and a supranational equivalent, united by the common interest or fundamental political goal of mutual non-interference. The chapter examines how that goal informs the relationship between the admission and integration of refugees. The first part argues that the constitutional orientation at mutual non-interference entails a prioritisation, by the Union, of humanitarian admission, whereas integration is in principle a matter for the distinct Member States and their societies. Using a material constitutional lens, which shifts the focus from adjudication to political and societal contestation, the second part analyses how humanitarian admission may transform into a richer idea of well-being. The scope of the examination is limited to a certain aspect of well-being: refugees’ integration into the European labour market. The material study suggests that well-being in that sense will be realised if, apart from adjudication, a transnational political and societal dialogue takes place between refugees (or their representatives) and destination societies. The chapter concludes that humanitarian admission is a precondition for a more positive, future-oriented idea of integration.