Trends in asylum- seeking in light of Macedonia’s accession processes in the European Union

Western European countries have been at the front line of developing instruments designed to control and restrict flows ever since the 1970s when the problem of unwanted immigration and asylum flows began to emerge. Their policy responses subsequently set a standard or pattern for other, ‘new’ asylum countries or transit countries on Europe’s borders, at the same time influencing towards more restrictive policies in this area. The European Union’s further integration through building the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) influenced creating common standards on determination and harmonizing the level of human rights among the EU countries. These processes however, on the other side are producing negative impact on the protection regimes in EU, making it more difficult for the forced migrants to reach the “shores” of Europe and benefit from the asylum. Through analyzing in perspective the Macedonian asylum legislation and its synchronization with the one of EU, along with observing the effects of the implementation of the CEAS in the unpredictable and changing environment of asylum and migration, this policy brief tends to discover the main reason for the increased number of asylum seekers in the Republic of Macedonia in 2011 and the current development of the country’s asylum policy as response towards it.