European Union Migration Research Articles

Separated Minors or the Dilemma between General and Individual Interest in European Union Migration Law Compliance

Separating children traveling accompanied by a nonfamily adult is a current practice serving the general purpose of fighting against sexual exploitation, minor trafficking, or general crime prevention. However, such a routine response could violate a minor’s right to family life or preclude an attempted migration to reunification. Although no specific normative framework exists for this migratory category, we will draw our analysis of the conflicting interests by resorting to human rights case law. On the one hand, the expansion of the legally recognized concept of family must help protect interpersonal bonds not based on biological relationships, according to the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union. On the other hand, restrictions to the right to family life can be taken for fighting against crime, although a goal of general prevention may not comply with human rights standards on the limitation of rights. The required balance between conflicting interests can be established by resorting to the best interests of the minor. To conclude, we argue that this category could certainly benefit from a concerted, common legislative action at the level of the European Union when revisiting the migration legal regime, alongside operational measures at national, regional, and local levels.
 Received: 31 July 2022Accepted: 05 October 2022

The European Union's migration management aid: Developing democracies or supporting authoritarianism?

AbstractThe European Union and its member states have invested billions of euros in migration management programs that purport to promote “good migration governance” around the world. But what is the impact of migration management aid on governance outside of the EU? In this article, we theorise the impact of migration management aid on governance in recipient countries by analysing the key policy areas of intervention. To do so, we focus on the effects of the European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa and draw on data collected from policy and government documents, in addition to secondary literature, to understand how migration management aid negatively impacts institutions of governance in recipient countries. While migration management aid may build the capacity of states to monitor borders and prevent irregular migration, we argue that this fails to account for negative externalities including human rights abuses and increased surveillance for migrants and citizens alike.

Article: When Securitization Spills over Across EU Borders: A Quantitative Mapping of the External Dimension of EU Migration and Asylum Policies

This article provides new empirical insights on the external dimension (ED) of European Union (EU) migration and asylum policies (MAPs) as a case of securitization, by mapping its policy tools across time and space. More specifically, the goal of the article is two-fold. It engages into a new mapping exercise that enables an understanding of how ‘geographically spread’ the ED of EU policies on migration and asylum is, as well as providing insights into ‘where’ and ‘what’ the EU has externalized in the last twenty years. Second, it assesses to what extent the number, type and distribution of ED policy tools reflect dynamics of the securitization of migration and asylum. The article builds upon the literature on securitization and externalization, looking at it afresh by adopting a perspective focused on policy tools. Empirically, the analysis is based upon a new comprehensive database containing data on 153 ED tools according to their characteristics and regions. The article argues not only that policy tools characterize the ED as a further feature of the securitization of migration, but also that externalization through practices of securitization has not been limited to the EU immediate borderlands but has rather spilled over across regions and frontiers. Externalization; migration policies; securitization; policy tools; border control; return and readmission; asylum

The main changes in the European Union migration policy regarding the integration of migrants. a view from the Republic of Moldova

In recent years, the European Union has been deeply concerned about finding ways to improve the effectiveness of migration policy. The main task facing the EU is to bring migration policy to a new level, able to respond in a timely manner to both existing problems and threats, as well as new aggravating modern challenges in this area. At the same time, the traditional approach remains strengthening the protection of the EU’s external borders, developing optimal solutions for migration and asylum policy, as well as for the integration of migrants. This article refers to the integration of labor migrants in the countries of the European Union. The integration process of Moldovan immigrants in the EU is considered in the context of eight main groups of parameters, such as labor market mobility, family reunification, access to education, access to the health system, political participation, permanent residence, access to citizenship, combating discrimination. At the same time, international regulatory and legal documents developed in this field, statistical data, sociological research materials are widely used.

Development as non‐migration? Examining normative and policy coherence in EU external action on migration and development

SummaryMotivationWithin the efforts of the European Union (EU) to govern migration, the nexus between migration and development has moved centre stage. Analysing how the EU has approached the migration–development nexus in its foreign policy from the perspective of policy coherence for development (PCD) allows this study to examine how far the EU migration–development nexus is coherent at the policy and normative level.PurposeHow does the EU conceptualize PCD? To what extent does the EU's external action in the migration–development nexus strengthen or undermine its normative commitment to coherence for development?Methods and approachThis article develops a conceptual framework of overall coherence for development, which consists of: (a) policy coherence; and (b) normative coherence for development. Both aspects are analysed through a qualitative content analysis of 18 expert interviews and EU policy documents.FindingsThe analysis shows that the EU perceives PCD as a policy‐making tool and a technical mechanism to reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Furthermore, the EU's approach to the migration–development nexus is incoherent both at the policy and the normative levels. In its policies, much of the focus is on containment of migration to Europe. At the normative level, the EU proclaims a sedentary and place‐bound notion of development.Policy implicationsThe article contributes to the current debates on PCD in the EU and on the EU's external action in the migration–development nexus. In order to foster PCD, the EU should approach the migration–development nexus more holistically.

Strategic Cruelty: Legitimizing Violence in the European Union's Border Regime

AbstractViolent border practices against irregular migration are not new, although increasing xenophobia and anti-immigrant sentiments have drawn greater attention to such practices in recent years. Such measures—both in and at the borders—constitute organized violence on migrant bodies, making them permanently insecure. This is particularly striking in the context of European liberal democracies with its established discourse of human rights, which have since the 1990s consolidated a formidable architecture of deterrence and which have intensified such efforts with the 2015 “migrant crisis” with increasing sea interceptions, restrictive anti-immigrant measures, and the criminalization of solidarity efforts. This article asks: How does the European Union (EU) legitimize violence in its border regime and reconcile this regime with its core identity as a defender of human rights and a “normative superpower”? By drawing on critical discourse analysis and reviewing policy statements, speeches, and press releases, it identifies the discourse topics, discursive strategies, and linguistic means through which EU migration discourse seeks to legitimize its sprawling architecture of strategic cruelty against irregular migration. This article argues that the purpose of the resulting discourse is to “absolve and resolve”—absolving the union as a whole of guilt and resolving the cognitive dissonance between the professed identity of the EU as supremely humanitarian and the observable inhumane acts of itself and its member states. This explains how the EU can employ strategic cruelty to mitigate the arrival of migrants while simultaneously maintaining moral standing to chastise individual members for “violating” the hegemonic collective identity of the union.

The New Priorities of the European Union Migration Policy

The aim of the research is to critically comment the New Pact on Migration and Asylum of the European Union, which introduces a new principle of flexible solidarity, consisting of two opposite characteristics – on the one hand – mandatory solidarity and on the other – a flexible one. Member States’ quotas will be replaced by flexible contribution to various aspects of the migration policy, which will allow countries that refuse to accept migrants to support the so-called first-line countries. The result of the research is a generalization and analysis of the new Migration Pact, which covers all areas of migration issues and applies a single approach and harmonizing of existing European legislation in the field. Other part of the results of the research analyse the new Multiannual Financial Framework of the European Union which foresees an increase in the migration and border management spending up to 22.7 bln. euro and an increase in the field of security and defence spending up to 13.2 bln. Euro.

Contemporary Czech migration policy: ‘Labour, not people’?

AbstractThis paper offers an analysis of the Czech migration policy since the so‐called European Union (EU) migration crisis in 2015 and its key instruments when it comes to migrant workers from third (non‐EU) countries. On the basis of semi‐structured interviews with 80 experts on various aspects of migration policymaking, we identified three key features of Czech migration policymaking: (i) perception of migration as a threat, (ii) orientation on temporary labour migration and (iii) lack of coherent and systematic conceptual approach towards migration. Jointly, these features explain a central paradox of the contemporary Czech migration policy: the contradiction between a strong anti‐immigration political discourse and the actual numbers of immigrants that has been rising steadily. Similarly to other European countries, there has been a growing tendency towards selectiveness in Czech migration policy, manifested in recent instruments specifically focused on attracting highly qualified migrants. However, the selection criteria are mainly based on the country of origin, and the quotas for incoming migrants reflect the existing administrative capacities and short‐term needs of the current Czech labour market for low‐ and middle‐qualified professionals rather than long‐term economic goals and demographic needs. Since the global economic recession (2008–2010), Czech migration policies have still not genuinely considered the fact that it is people, rather than just ‘labour’, who come to the Czech Republic.

Central European Ideas and Policies about International Circular Migration from Hungarian Angle

Abstract The author tries to investigate the thoughts and politics in literature about international circular migration in the lights of European Union (EU) initiatives related to Visegrad Four Countries (V4) with special attention to Hungary. The cross-border circular flows have become relatively frequent during life stages of people differentiated by previous migratory experiences, and next aspirations. The popularity of international circular migration erected from the hypothesis of ’triple win solution’ without any empirical verifications. Basically, two sorts of circular migration system exist: homogenous and heterogenous. The homogenous human circular migration system consists of the same kind of moves with similar time rhythm from statistical angles. It seems to us that the practice of life-long international circular migration characterises few long-term circulators. However, the heterogenous circular migration systems combine with other spatial mobility forms function during whole individual life cycle due to one of the symptoms of human beings. The main aim of the contribution is to explore some elements of similar ideas and politics on international circulatory flows interfered between Western and Eastern Europe. Moreover, we propose some old-new innovative solutions for V4 to reform the rigid EU migration policies.

FREE MOVEMENT OF PERSONS AND THE LEGAL SECURITY OF DOCUMENTS WITHIN THE EUROPEAN UNION

The increase of international and European Union migration has led to increasing attention to the impact of Member States' legislation on the recognition, legal certainty and standardization of procedures for the movement of official documents, as part of the free movement of persons within the European Union. This article responds to European Union's needs by examining the extent to which the various regulations, in particular regulations having direct and immediate application, being long and complex and comprehensively governing some cross-border procedures that underline the recognition of official documents within the European Union. It is a fact that the Union facilitates and accelerates the cross-border application of aspects of the free movement of persons in private international law, encourages the simplification of the requirements for the presentation of certain official documents in EU, while strengthening the security of Union citizens' identity cards and residence documents etc. By using the historical and comparative method, the conclusions drawn from this analysis refer to the need to apply these legislative rules established due to the necessity to ensure legal certainty and predictability at Union level, but also offering to European citizens an attractive option compared to the classic variants of international law, the latter providing at times a more convincing and comprehensive legal certainty.

‘Losing Leverage’ in the Neighbourhood: A Cognitive Frame Analysis of the European Union Migration Policy

The European Union (EU)–Turkey deal consolidated a shift in the EU’s migration policy. The deal is the culmination of the dominance of the security frame and depicts the continuous externalization of the EU’s responsibility of asylum protection and burden sharing. The strengthening of the security frame has weakened the humanitarian norms that previously dictated EU’s behaviour. This has led to the EU losing some of its comparative advantages in negotiations. Simultaneously, the instrumentalization of the value of asylum, paired with an increased number of asylum seekers, has given negotiation leverage to the neighbouring countries turned service providers. These changes in perception and norms have created a power shift, at the disadvantage of the EU, creating a more leveled playing field for negotiations between the parties. This article tracks the historical shifts in the global refugee regime to explain how today’s situation was created. Hereby, the existence of two competing cognitive frames—humanitarian and security—is assumed, tracked and analysed. While looking at the EU–Turkey deal, the article shows that the EU has started treating refugees as a security problem rather than a humanitarian issue, breaking the normative fabric of the refugee regime in the process. The article also displays how Turkey was able to capitalise on this new reality and engage with negotiations of other neighbouring countries of EU that point towards a change of dynamics in the global refugee regime.

Refashioning the EU Visa Policy: A New Turn of the Screw to Cooperation on Readmission and to Discrimination?

Abstract Since the establishment of the Schengen area, border management has been having momentum within the European Union (EU) and, one of its major building blocks is the common policy on visas. This allows to control who can have access to the Schengen area for short stays that do not exceed three months over any six-month period. This article investigates how the EU visa policy has been influenced by the ever-evolving migratory dynamics towards the EU. Focusing on the latest reform of the Common Code on Visa, which has entered into force in 2020, this article argues that the new approach to conditionality in EU migration law has consolidated the intertwining between the EU visa policy and cooperation on readmission. Over the years, the latter has constituted an incentive for the EU in order to offer visa facilitation regimes or specific visa waivers to nationals of third countries. However, this article criticizes the new mechanism, introduced by the recent reform, and providing the European Commission with the mandate to propose specific restrictive measures related to visa processing and visa fee in case of a lack of cooperation especially on readmission. In an attempt to shed light on the legal concerns raised by this mechanism, the paper concludes that it even emphasises the discriminatory effects of the EU visa policy and, more generally, it impacts on the cooperation with third countries within the EU General Approach to Migration and Mobility.

The Influence of the Migration Crisis of 2015 on the EU Migration Policy

Nowadays the European Union migration policy towards is one of the most important aspects in ensuring internal security of the EU. At the end of the XXth – beginning of the XXI century, Europe faced a new phenomenon – the intensifi cation of migration processes, namely the influx of refugees and migrants-asylum seekers from third countries. Therefore, it led to the creation and development of common migration policy of the European Union. In this regard, it was important to create legislation that could regulate such issues as border security and combating illegal migration, as well as to create a common asylum system. The need to study the legal framework on which the EU policy on migrants and refugees is based, and to study the current state and trends in the migration policy of the member-states of the EU has determined the relevance of this study. The importance of this topic is intensified by the European migration crisis of 2015, which is even described as a humanitarian catastrophe caused by a massive influx of refugees from Africa and the Middle East. It showed the main problems in the sphere of migration policy and policy towards refugees: imperfection of the system of delimitation of the EU competencies; a large number of countries with confl icting interests in various spheres; fragmentation of programs in force at the national level. To address the migration crisis, the EU used a multifaceted strategy: improving and creating new migration management institutions, expanding crossregional dialogue with the countries of the Mediterranean region, Africa and the Middle East; continued to reformat the Mediterranean region (region-building). Potential approaches range from an internal search for strategies in which each member state seeks to defend its own interests (sometimes even against European integration processes) to a more farsighted approach in which member states work together to address a wide range of migration issues.

European Union and Italian Migration Policy and the Probable Destabilization of Southern Libya and Northern Niger

ABSTRACT European Union and Italian policies, while achieving their objectives of suppressing migration across the Mediterranean Sea, have at the same time created social and economic dislocation in southern Libya and northern Niger that will further destabilize the region. Using field research involving interviews and surveys, the authors document these dislocations, predict instability, and suggest future research.

Externalization of the European Union Migration Regime: The Case of Turkey

ABSTRACT Migration management has become a top policy concern for the European Union (EU) and a significant implication of this has been to externalize the control and containment practices of migration. As a neighboring country maintaining accession negotiations to become an EU member, Turkey represents a primary area where this externalization occurs. Using a historical case analysis, this article explores how the EU influences Turkey’s migration regime through securitized policies and practices of externalization. It argues that the EU further securitizes Turkey’s already securitarian migration regime by employing the principle of conditionality. Upon providing a brief discussion on securitization of migration and the EU’s securitized externalization practices, the study examines Turkey’s immigration and asylum policies while underlining that the EU has been accelerating the country's already securitarian migration framework through stricter visa regime protocols, increased border security measures, and certain bilateral arrangements including the Readmission Agreement and the Joint Action Plan. It also outlines challenges and recommendations with a conclusion that security-oriented externalized practices diminish the immigrant rights and reinforce uneven socio-economic and political structures. It suggests the need to enforce broader humanitarian perspectives for migration practices. For these analyses, the study utilizes secondary data consisting of previous empirical studies, institutional documents, reports, news articles, and official statements.

Соціально-економічні аспекти міграційної політики Європейського Союзу

This article "Socio-economic Aspects of European Union Migration Policy" is devoted to exploring the features, prerequisites and socio-economic factors that encourage developed EU countries to implement measures to attract third-country migrants. For this purpose, a brief overview of the geography of migration processes that took place in Europe from the time of the formation of the European Union to the time of its full functioning was carried out. Following the final formation of the Union in 1992, basic legal acts were adopted that outlined the general rules and procedures for migration, but each country resolves the main issues related to the economic aspects of migration. In 2015, one of the most important issues that will affect the future development of the EU was raised, namely the demographic crisis that affected almost all countries, and the importance of which began to be discussed at a high political level. Through numerous studies of the population and labor markets, it has emerged that the rate of natural increase of population in Europe is extremely low, and because of the increase in life expectancy of Europeans, the retirement age may exceed the economically active population in the near future, which will put a heavy strain on the pension, tax and social systems. The largest recipients of migrant workers in the EU Poland and Germany have long been aware of the need to respond to the growing demographic crisis and implement appropriate policies. Poland has undertaken a range of measures to minimize bureaucratic and permitting procedures for the employment of foreigners, and has introduced numerous economic incentives and benefits for migrants studying and working in Poland. As a result, millions of migrants support the Polish economy and the competitiveness of Polish businesses in European markets, and the contribution of migrants to GDP growth is highlighted by the country's leading economic institutions. Germany is pursuing a slightly different policy, but the adoption of the new migration law has proved that the country is already suffering from a shortage of manpower. Major forecasts from leading scientific institutions in the labor market indicate that Germany needs 200-400 thousand migrants annually to support economic growth. Although the analysis of the law shows that only skilled workers can obtain a work permit, but the situation may change in the near future, as the policy is prudent and gradually giving access to markets. General scientific methods were used in the article: analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, statistical analysis.

Migracionnaya politika Evropejskogo soyuza

Migracionnaya politika Evropejskogo soyuza

Determinants of Migration Following the EU Enlargement: A Panel Data Analysis

Abstract The Eastern enlargements of the European Union (EU) since the early 2000s have included post-transitional economies at a lower level of development than the existing member states and thus, have significantly affected the East-West migration flows and labour markets on both sides. This has provided a distinctive opportunity to study the effects of liberalisation and to identify economic factors leading to migration flows with the purpose of enabling better estimations of future migration trends. In this research, a panel data analysis with pair of country fixed effects and time fixed effects is used to explore several pull and push factors of the East-West EU migration flows in the period from 2000 to 2017. Results indicate that emigration rate responds rather quickly to the changes in GDP per capita and unemployment rate of the youth population in immigration country, with statistically significant elasticity coefficients, suggesting that international migration contributes significantly to adjusting the labour supply to fluctuations in economic activity.

Understanding EU Solidarity and Migration in Crisis: Narratives of Health as Tools of Governance

The so-called European migration crisis has sparked significant attention from scholars and raises questions about the role of solidarity between states and the European Union (EU) in providing policy solutions. Tension exists between upholding the rights of those seeking entry and pooling resources between Member States to provide a fair and efficient migration system. This article deconstructs the shifts that have occurred in EU migration policy since 2015 to highlight how narratives of health have become tools of governance. It does so to illuminate how health narratives operate to minimise the impact that conflicts on the nature and substance of EU solidarity have on policy development in response to the perceived crisis. A governmentality lens is used to analyse the implications of increasingly prescribed policy applications based on screening and categorising, and how measures operate to responsibilise migrants and third-countries to act according to EU values. It is argued this approach to governance results in migrants facing legal uncertainty in terms of accessing their rights and excludes them from the EU political space, which is problematic for how EU governance can be understood.

International Delegation and Agency in the Externalization Process of EU Migration and Asylum Policy: the Role of the IOM and the UNHCR in Niger

Abstract This article examines the role of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the implementation of the European Union (EU) migration and asylum policy in Niger. Building on policy analysis and qualitative interviews with stakeholders, it contributes to the literature on the externalization process of EU borders. The first part of the article focuses on the international and local context in which this process has taken place in Niger since 2015. The second part refers to the principal-agent (PA) theory inspired from economics to model the dynamics of the delegation relationships linking the European Commission (EC) to the IOM and the UNHCR in Niger. It is argued that the two main objectives pursued by the EU through the externalization of its migration and asylum policy—namely the offshoring of border control and the outsourcing of asylum claims processing—are respectively fulfilled by the IOM and the UNHCR in Niger. As such, this article highlights how the cooperation of International Organizations (IOs) is critical to enable the EU to filter and restrict human mobility from the Sahel region.