Not in my backyard! Outsourcing EU asylum procedures to third countries: A challenge for the Common European Asylum System

Following the conclusion of the Italy-Albania Protocol on migration and asylum, this article examines the outsourcing of asylum procedures from the perspective of EU law. After several unsuccessful projects sporadically proposed by various Member States, the Commission now seems ready to support models of extraterritorial assessment for asylum applications as an integral component of a wider set of externalization measures ostensibly aimed at tackling the root causes of migration and deterring migration flows. In this context, this analysis describes the main outsourcing schemes that have been elaborated thus far and zooms in on the various novel elements that characterize the Italy-Albania Protocol. The article shows that, on the one hand, the Protocol disposes of the main criticisms traditionally associated with externalization instruments. On the other hand, it calls into question the consistency and effectiveness of the Common European Asylum System and raises concerns about the compatibility of some of its features with EU law. However, because of the rigid territoriality on which the CEAS is based, the Protocol appears to be designed to elude the scope of application of EU law. In this respect, this analysis argues that the Italy-Albania Protocol elicits an evolutive reading of the well-established territoriality of EU asylum law. It is also argued that, in any event, Italy cannot escape the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice over the implementation of the agreement in question.