European asylum development in the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union

Abstract

In this Master Thesis the influence of the CJEU jurisprudence on the EU asylum development was analyzed. Two main problems, concerning the extent to which the CJEU jurisprudence contributes to the protection level of the asylum seekers and the ability of national asylum authorities and domestic courts to apply the CJEU asylum jurisprudence, were distinguished. This work aims to prove the hypothesis, that CJEU case law has a potential to contribute effectively on the development of the EU asylum law. However, the jurisprudence of the Court does not lead to the enhanced protection of asylum seekers and only partially affects the case law of the domestic courts. The first chapter of this Master Thesis analyzes the legal background and changing role of the CJEU in the EU asylum law development. It ascertains that evolution of CJEU has influenced the EU asylum law. The second part shows that CJEU jurisprudence lacks volume to have a significant impact on the EU asylum system. The third chapter confirms that case law has only limited influence towards national asylum systems of Member States. Furthermore, it is disclosed that Lithuanian domestic courts face problems concerning the interpretation of the CJEU asylum jurisprudence and misinterprets set standards.