While Europe is somewhat indeterminate as a legal concept, with respect to refugee law the
European Union is the major actor in the region, although the Council of Europe provides
protection guarantees for many people who fail to obtain refugee status consequent on the
restrictive approach taken in EU Member States. In 2004, the EU finally produced the
harmonized policies on qualification for refugee status or subsidiary protection, and on
minimum procedures throughout the 25, called for in the 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam. The
principal criticism of the approach of the EU towards refugees is that it has combined
asylum with immigration. Immigration law is about controlling entry, whereas refugee
law is about providing international protection. The absence of a supervisory tribunal to
oversee the application of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its
1967 Protocol has meant that states have developed their interpretations of refugee law
independently; harmonization, on the other hand, inevitably leads to equalizing down at
the expense of the refugee when it is attempted to attune those independent approaches.
Taken together with the link to migration, particularly irregular migration, the focus
within the EU is on numbers and on so-called bogus asylum seekers. With an
immigration control mentality driving refugee policy, it is little wonder that the approach
of the European Union has consisted in part of measures designed to move decision-making
to third states.