Is this the End of Federalism? The Immigration Crisis and the Remaking of Europe

This presentation argues for a new theoretical framework regarding the emerging structure of the EU through the prism of the current immigration crisis.

Greece provides the empirical material for this paper. Located at the borderlands of the EU, Greece occupies a strange position between federalism and inward looking social formations where membership depends on blood relations. Drawing on policy documents (Dublin Regulation; Refugee Centres and Hotspots; Refugee Relocation System) and on the political rhetoric of sovereignty and border control the paper introduces the concept of Europia. Europia shifts the debate from the binary of Federalists and Eurosceptics to the capacity of immigration to create utopian and dystopian visions about the European project. Europia exists between the sociological analysis of immigration and an imaginary future of the EU viewed through the prism of hope and crisis. As a result, Europia serves as an analytical tool for a series of actions and mentalities concerning the way immigration authorities construct dystopian environments for immigrants and refugees; the way states understand cultural homogeneity as a political utopia; the way the arrival and presence of immigrants contributes to a dystopia of a torn social fabric; and the way immigrants and asylum seekers view Europe as a utopia of prosperity, rule of law, and freedom.

The presentation concludes by arguing for a renewed understanding of European citizenship independent of national belonging that will ultimately democratize the EU.