Managing Migration in the Mediterranean

Abstract

This chapter is dedicated to EU’s relations with its southern Mediterranean neighbours, focusing on the management of human mobility. Cooperation between the two shores has taken place both at a regional and bilateral level, complementing or overlapping each other. Nevertheless, Euro-Mediterranean relations were mainly marked by stagnation due to internal and external factors that conditioned the relations between Mediterranean countries, as well as to priority discrepancies. Within the European context, the management of migration in the Mediterranean is conceived within a comprehensive framework, which involves not only policies on border management, asylum and immigration, but also an external dimension which comprises the EU’s relations with southern Mediterranean countries. Hence, the management of the migration crisis was a litmus test for the EU and could have been a collective triumph in Europe through the adoption of a joint effort. However, in the end, it was quite the opposite.