Refugee Crisis Versus Euro Crisis – a Comparison of Political Handling

Dirk Meyer, University of the Bundeswehr Hamburg, examines the differences and common features in the European Union’s political handling of the euro crisis and the refugee crisis. In his opinion, both crises represent an emergency for the EU. Since EU law has none or insufficient regulations for dealing with these cases, the Commission and EU member states can only act reactively. In the euro crisis a consensus strategy prevailed, while the refugee issue has provoked controversy. Both crises, however, involve constitutional tightrope walks that may lead to clear violations of EU law.