Criminological analysis of the Commission Guidance on the implementation of the Facilitators Package in the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum of 2020: Between legal perspectives and empirical realities

Abstract

This paper analyses the communication from the European Commission named “Commission Guidance on the implementation of European Union (EU) rules on definition and prevention of the facilitation of unauthorized entry, transit and residence 2020/C323/01” in the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum presented on the 23^rd of September 2020, with regard to current research on the criminalization of humanitarian aid, also known as the criminalization of solidarity with irregular migrants. This analysis aims to propose a criminological reading of the phenomenon as well as highlighting its complexity, which has not been emphasized by the Commission in its policy recommendations to the Member States. A reflection on the benefits of a multidisciplinary approach is made, taking into account the empirical realities that the Facilitators Package has not yet been able to grasp, and thus showing the gap between the practices of criminalization and the regulatory framework of the European Union.