Published Paper Details:

Abstract Major political developments of the European Union (EU) since the mid-1990's aimed at the implementation of a common policy on migration and asylum. Its values are based on the fundamental rights of citizens, as set out in the 1951 Geneva Convention on the international rights of refugees and stateless persons. With the historical enlargement of the European Union to include new democracies in Central and Eastern Europe there was a need to politically manage the structural rise of immigration. This led to the foundation of the "common immigration and asylum policy" laid by the Treaty of Amsterdam which entered into force in 1999 and this policy was enshrined in the Treaty of Lisbon in 2009. . The European Union sought to ensure a coordinated response to the refugee crisis in 2015. Various EU agencies provided assistance and training to Member States to implement the Common European Asylum System (CEAS). Public opinion and political action in almost all EU Member States has largely been influenced by the concerns towards the crisis. The European Commission has also allocated monetary aid to address the refugee crisis and assist Member States, particularly those impacted. To ensure better security of its external borders the EU proposed the creation of a European Border and Coast Guard with shared responsibility for the EU borders with Member States. In November 2015, the Commission signed an Action Plan with Turkey designed to reduce migration flow entering EU through Greece. In this context, this paper intends to study the European policy on asylum and how it has addressed the concerned challenges. It also aims to evaluate the extent to which European asylum policy is effective in its implementation and to measure its policy outcome.