This report provides a unique, in-depth analysis of the impact of EU policies in addressing the so-called European migration or refugee ‘crisis’ in 2015 and 2016. Crossing the Mediterranean Sea by Boat undertook 257 in-depth qualitative interviews with a total of 271 participants across seven sites in two phases: Kos, Malta and Sicily from September-November 2015, and Athens, Berlin, Istanbul and Rome from May-July 2016.
Uniquely, the project focused directly on the impact of policies upon people on the move, drawing together policy analysis and observational fieldwork with in-depth analysis of qualitative
interview data from people making – or contemplating making – the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean Sea. As such, the report provides previously-unconsidered insights into the effects of policy on the journeys, experiences, understandings, expectations, concerns and demands of people on the move.
In addition to providing seven site-based case study analyses, the project also provides the first detailed assessment of policies associated with A European Agenda on Migration in terms of policy
effects both across routes (eastern and central Mediterranean) and over time (2015 and 2016). The findings and analysis summarised in this report are presented with the aim of informing policy
developments, moving forward