Journal on Baltic Security _______________________________________________

The first article by Ąžuolas Bagdonas looks at the ways of solving the crisis at the EU level and the implications for the Baltic States of these policy decisions arguing for the importance of the rules-based system and the interest of the Baltic States in upholding such a system. [...] Thus, the inability and, to a certain extent, unwillingness to deal with the influx at the national level, led to the breakdown of the enforcement of the CEAS and, consequently, put the existence of the Schengen area into question. [...] The two key factors that explain the difference in the impact of the arrival of migrants are the geographic location and the economic situation of the member states. [...] The Minister of Justice, Urmas Reinsalu from the IRL, stated in May 2015 that the EU quota system could violate both the Treaties of the European Union and the Constitution of the Republic of Estonia, and that Estonia should reject the refugee quota. [...] Local experts believe that the current low support for refugees in Estonia is, besides the escalation of the crisis at the global arena, related to the poor communication of the national government in explaining the underlying causes of its decisions to the public.