n the 21 st century, hybrid threats are becoming increasingly relevant and encompass a wide range of challenges to the stability and security of modern societies. While the “weaponization” of migrant and refugee flows has been employed with varying degrees of success by different actors throughout history, it is among the least widely known hybrid threats. This paper focuses on the Mediterranean refugee and migrant crisis which erupted in the early 2010s and its impact in terms of the policies and practices implemented by the European Union to save lives in the Mediterranean and protect its borders. This unprecedented crisis revealed the fragility of the European policies and affected the European citizens ‘perception of the safety of their national borders, but also emphasized the importance of solidarity and respect for human rights to face the humanitarian emergency in the Mediterranean. This study is structured as follows: firstly, a conceptualization of security and hybrid threat; secondly, a discussion of the significance of migration as a hybrid threat; thirdly, the description of the main European Union responses to the Mediterranean crisis. Finally, the policies and practices to tackle the Mediterranean crisis are assessed in terms of their capability to contribute to an increased resilience of the European Union in the face of similar crises in the future.
Keywords: European Union resilience; Hybrid threats; “Weaponization” of Migration; Mediterranean Crisis; Human Rights