Re-Framing Mobility and Identity Controls: The Next Generation of the EU Migration Management Toolkit

Abstract

During the last 20 years, “Schengen Europe” has equipped itself with a matrix of migration control tools comprising a set of exclusionary discourses, laws, institutions, technologies and practices. The European Commission has recently proposed a legislative package on “EU Smart Borders” composed of an Entry-Exit System (EES) and the Registered Travellers Programme (RTP). This article examines the ways in which the EU Smart Borders reframe the traditional understandings and configurations of the EU border control system and its migration management toolkit of technologies. It is argued that smart borders take us a step further in the re-framing of mobility and identity controls in the EU Schengen apparatus. EU discourses backing up these measures have not been so much centered on the insecuritization of irregular immigration. They have instead questioned the effectiveness of the existing EU border regime, and used a “de-securitization” and facilitation of the mobility discourse hiding “discrimination by default.” Smart borders aim at identifying the future potential “irregular overstayer” and generalizing the management of mobility and identity of all non-EU travelers by implementing a person-driven approach. This approach transforms the essence of border controls in Europe and reframes the EU travel documents policy by moving away from a nationality-based approach of border controls towards another based on risk and profiling.