External Migration Policy Research Articles

Towards an integrated approach to EU foreign policy? Horizontal spillover across the humanitarian–development and the security–migration interfaces

ABSTRACT Combining theoretical insights from works on policy integration and institutional overlap, this article develops a novel analytical framework to account for variations in policy integration in the EU’s external relations. We argue that the greater the level of institutional fit between different areas of the EU’s external relations, the greater the prospects for deepening policy integration through a ‘horizontal spillover’ mechanism. Specifically, we argue that network formation, policy entrepreneurship and political socialisation are key elements of this horizontal spillover mechanism leading towards greater policy integration. Empirically, we explore the relevance of our theoretical claims for the interface between the EU’s development policy and its humanitarian aid policy and between the CSDP and external migration policy in the AFSJ domain. Whilst both policy interfaces have been marked by growing functional pressures, we show that differences in institutional fit have resulted in varying degrees of progress in policy integration.

The external dimension of Italian migration policy in the wider Mediterranean

ABSTRACT This article provides the first systematic and comprehensive analysis of the external dimension of Italy’s migration policy (EXMIPO) in the broader Mediterranean, over the past three decades. Building on an original dataset spanning over 30 years and 125 instruments, it investigates how and to what extent Italy cooperated with countries of origin and transit in the management of migration flows. The article argues that the external dimension of Italy’s migration policy is far richer than initially expected. From the immediate neighbourhood, Italy’s EXMIPO has gradually extended well beyond its geographical borders. If initially, it relied on a strategy of issue-linkage between quotas and return agreements, this gradually faded away in favour of more informal tools. While governments’ political ideology did not play a key role in defining the direction of Italy’s EXMIPO tools, we find that the evolving dynamics of migratory flows, and the pursuit of flexible tools to promptly address rising numbers, were crucial aspects behind the country’s external migration policy.

The Tools of External Migration Policy in the EU Member States: The Case of Italy

AbstractThis article focuses on the external dimension of migration policy (EXMIPO) in the EU member states (MSs), through a policy tool approach. It offers an analytical framework for conceptualizing MS EXMIPO, by (1) unpacking its tools and (2) understanding their relationship with EU‐level migration governance, as based on competition, convergence and complementarity. Empirically, it examines the case of Italy, building on an original dataset spanning over 30 years and 125 instruments. Through the Italian case, this article demonstrates that MSs have developed an intense external action at the bilateral level in the field of migration, which has expanded quantitatively and qualitatively, alongside (and despite) EU initiatives.

EU constitutional dismantling through strategic informalisation: Soft readmission governance as concerted dis‐integration

AbstractThis contribution takes issue with what I have called the ‘constitutional dismantling’ of external migration policy through the tactical informalisation of readmission cooperation. It maps out the strategic use of soft law mediating the tacit approval or active involvement of the main EU actors. The strategy is supposed to enhance policy outcomes but is at the expense of foundational principles. The principles of conferral, institutional balance, and sincere/loyal cooperation impose key constraints on EU/Member State action that the choice for soft law ignores. My main contention is that this is not an unintended consequence, but a deliberate or, at least, tolerated result, amounting to a form of ‘concerted dis‐integration’ pursued by the very actors supposed to guard the EU integration project in line with Treaty provisions. The approach denotes the instrumentalisation of legal mechanisms for the advancement of policy objectives, embracing a regulation‐without‐legitimation paradigm that unravels the EU’s constitutional framework.

Mind the gap! Organized hypocrisy in EU cooperation with Southern neighbor countries on international protection

Abstract The European Union (EU) has reacted to the migration crises of the last decade with growing externalization of migration management to neighbor countries often accused of not respecting human rights and individual liberties. Focusing on EU cooperation with the Southern neighborhood, as defined within the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) framework, this paper investigates the recent developments in the EU's external migration policies, demonstrating that there is a gap between EU discourses and policy instruments identified by the EU as strategic tools of the European migration and asylum policy (MAP). Five Southern neighbor countries (SNCs) have been selected, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon, to assess the extent to which the EU, when cooperating on migration and asylum issues, places international protection at risk instead of playing the role of humanitarian actor in accordance with the ideals and principles it defends. The research critically analyzes the EU's cooperation with SNCs concerning migration, as developed via international agreements, action plans, and mobility partnerships under the umbrella of the ENP. In particular, it explores the incompatibility between the European MAP instruments and international protection. MAP, the qualitative analysis shows, represents a clear mismatch between EU talk and action, outlining another case of organized hypocrisy.

Spillover dynamics and inter-institutional interactions between CSDP and AFSJ: moving towards a more joined-up EU external migration policy?

ABSTRACT The EU’s response to the European ‘refugee crisis’ has involved parallel efforts to strengthen the EU’s capacity for external migration management in the domains of CSDP and AFSJ. To provide a swift response to the ‘refugee crisis’ in 2015, EU member states decided to utilise existing operational CSDP capabilities as a short-term foreign policy tool. Simultaneously, we have seen an impressive strengthening of the mandate and capabilities of ASFJ actors in external migration governance. Although institutional links between civilian CSDP and AFSJ have existed for over two decades, the parallel task expansion has created new demands for inter-institutional coordination between the two policy areas. Combining neofunctionalist theory with insights from research on inter-institutional overlap, this article argues that responses to neofunctionalist spillover pressures may trigger inter-institutional dynamics, which can involve both cooperation as well as conflict. Empirically, we find that these inter-institutional interactions have had important implications for integration in both policy areas, which cannot be fully understood by studying these policy domains in isolation.

Introduction: EU external migration policy and EU migration governance: introduction

ABSTRACT While the EU’s external migration policy arguably constitutes the most dynamic strand of EU migration policy, especially since the 2015/2016 asylum crisis in Europe, and while there is also a growing body of research on this dimension, more comprehensive, conceptually informed social science publications analysing this policy area in a more encompassing fashion are scarce. In an attempt to make progress on this front, this special issue focusses on four sets of issues: (1) conceptualising EU external migration policy; (2) identifying the drivers and conditioning factors of EU policy; (3) analysing interdependencies and interactions between different policy areas and instruments; and (4) tracing the influence and reactions of third country actors and non-European host countries of migration. After describing key developments and aspects of EU external migration policies over time and after reviewing the state of the art in research on EU external migration policy, the key contributions of the individual papers are identified and contextualised.

Exploring Europe’s external migration policy mix: on the interactions of visa, readmission, and resettlement policies

ABSTRACT This article explores Europe’s external migration mix, considering three policy instruments which form part of the EU’s remote control of borders: (1) visa regulations managing entry and cross-border mobility, (2) readmission agreements facilitating assisted and forced return of migrants without legal right to remain, and (3) resettlement of refugees with refugee status via formalised programmes. The article explores the degree and nature of these policies co-evolution. Based on a collation of migration policy data for 31 European countries between 1990 and 2020, we disentangle spatial, temporal, and categorical policy patterns and interactions. We find strong evidence for spatial policy dependence across European countries for all three policy areas, but particularly visa policy; evidence for some categorical dependence between selected external policies within countries, but also between external policy instruments and other migration-relevant policies; and only weak or no evidence for temporal sequencing of external policy change. The external migration policy mix appears heterogenous across different European states, but also within single European states, and vis-a-vis third country states, with whom various migration-relevant and externally oriented policies are negotiated. As a result, and perhaps surprisingly, the role of specific migration-relevant policies seems to be underestimated in strategic and overarching migration policymaking.

The crisis of the Common European Asylum System: rethinking solidarity in light of Human Rights

In 2015, the unprecedented arrival of refugees and irregular migrants in the European Union (EU) put a strain on the Common European Asylum System (CEAS), thus exposing a number of deficiencies in EU external border, asylum and migration policy. The need to reform the system became urgent and the EU was presented with both a challenge and an opportunity to further advance towards a much-needed consensual and long-term solution for the harmonisation of the asylum system, standing on the basis of solidarity and responsibility-sharing. This paper argues that the new comprehensive approach to migration and asylum praised by the European Commission (EC) is still missing in the recent Pact on Migration and Asylum of 2020, which represents more a missed opportunity than the real reform that the CEAS needs. The chosen legislative path, the dualistic understanding concerning the approach to migrants, and the new solidarity mechanism envisioned in the Pact show how the lack of consensus among Member States, the tendency towards the creation of a “Fortress Europe”, and an asymmetric idea of inter-state solidarity prevail, preventing the development of a common European framework for migration management that is both effective and in line with the EU’s values and objectives. This paper further argues that, if the EU fails to shift the paradigm of solidarity, the system is at risk of remaining fractured and incapable of withstanding the future challenges of migration. A new framework must be grounded on the principle of solidarity, as defined in the Article 80 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) which, in turn, needs to move from a state-centred approach to a concept of solidarity based on affected individuals, thus setting its foundations on a human rights basis. The EU needs, in fact, to strongly step up as a humanitarian actor and place protection and responsibility-sharing at the centre of its agenda: the protection of fundamental human rights in its territory and beyond is at stake.

Vulnerable People or Vulnerable Borders?

The concept of vulnerability is blurred and often evoked in the context of refugee and forced migrant women. Paradoxically, it is also employed by the EU with regard to its external border security. Thus, the question arises of how the EU conceptualizes vulnerability in its external migration policies and who is perceived to be vulnerable – refugees and migrants, or external borders? Using a systematic lexical keyword search to identify relevant policy aims in the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, the latest policy agenda on migration and asylum of the EU Commission published in September 2020, this paper highlights the mostly one-dimensional concept of vulnerability in external EU policies. In this article, it is argued that this entails significant gendered implications for asylum-seekers and migrants en route to Europe. It further reveals the detrimental effects for migrants and refugees caused by the EU’s focus and prioritization of its vulnerable borders. Ultimately, this paper by adopting a gendered lens calls into question whether the European Commission fully incorporates human rights commitments in its policy guidance on asylum and migration.

The impact of French foreign policy towards Africa on the external migration policy of the European Union

This article analyses France’s foreign policy towards Africa from a realist perspective. It identifies how this policy creates a state of inequality in terms of Franco-African relations through the Francafrique system and how the long-term policy’s consequences have led to negative impacts on the European Union’s External Migration Policy towards the world’s poorest continent. This inequality in terms of Franco-African relations is explained from the perspective of other theories including the Dependency theory and Capital System that highlight inequality between the Global South and the Western world. As a result, it is highly important to examine the volumes of illegal migrant flows to the European territories crossing the Mediterranean Sea from the Sahel and Sub-Saharan Francophone countries to understand how the EU’s External Migration Policy is impacted by the foreign policy adopted by one of the most powerful players in the international system and EU’s member states towards Africa.

Structure of GDP growth rates in Russia up to 2024

By the fall of 2021, the Russian economy had practically overcome the crisis caused by coronavirus pandemic and sharp drop in oil prices in the first half of 2020, having returned in terms of GDP, industrial production and investment in fixed assets to pre-crisis levels. At the same time, the prospects for further growth of the Russian economy remain uncertain, since both in the short and long term, the balance of factors affecting the growth rate of Russia’s GDP is shifted to a negative area. These external factors include the growing risks of a new financial and/or economic crisis in the world’s leading economies (including China), imposing large-scale sanctions against Russia in connection with a special operation in Ukraine, the instability of world commodity markets, as well as the processes of decarbonization and restructuring of the world economy. Internal factors of growth comprise increased investment activity of private and state-owned companies (and in the field of national projects), expansion of non-resource non-energy exports, while internal growth constraints comprise possible decline in the working-age population in Russia and slow growth of the real personal income. According to the official forecast by the RF Ministry of Economic Development, after the recovery acceleration of the economy by 4.2% in 2021 (the first estimate by Rosstat — 4.7%), GDP growth will stabilize at about 3% per year in subsequent years. However, it is lower than expected growth rates of the world economy, but it is significantly higher than the average growth rates of the Russian economy over the past decade (about 0.7% per year).To reveal the growth rates structure, which corresponds to anticipated economic dynamics in Russia, we have used an approach based on identifying three components of GDP growth rates — structural, foreign trade, and business cycle ones. In this article a new decomposition method was applied, which assumes the neutrality of the foreign trade component if the oil price is at the average long-term values.In case of achievement of the RF Ministry of Economic Development forecast, actual and structural unemployment indicators convergence may lead to a shortage of labor in certain sectors of the Russian economy in 2022—2023. The solution to this problem lies in the sphere of external and internal migration policy intensification and measures for promoting inter-sectoral labor mobility. Estimates of the output gap show that it is advisable to pursue a stimulating fiscal policy in 2022 with a transition to neutrality in 2023—2024. Supporting the global spread of vaccines against coronavirus infection and the recovery of the global economy will contribute to an increase in oil prices and in the foreign trade component of economic growth in Russia.

Unpacking the unintended consequences of European migration governance: the case of South American migration policy liberalisation

ABSTRACT Research on the external dimension of EU migration governance has focused on the EU’s interests, preferences, and policy efficiency and coherence. Little attention has been paid to the myriad ways both partner and third countries react to the union’s external action. We explore the European influence on immigration and refugee policy liberalisation in South America, a region not directly targeted by extra-regional migration governance. Based on the analysis of 130 original interviews with government officials and NGO and IO representatives in eight South American countries we show that - although South American policymakers generally regard the EU as a model of ‘efficiency’, in terms of the EU’s intra-regional mobility regime – the remarkable legislative liberalisation in the region took place in the context of both political and moral opposition to restrictive shifts in EU extra-regional migration governance. The paper contributes to the literature on the EU external migration governance, policy diffusion, and Latin American migration policies by uncovering some of the unintended consequences of European migration governance in South America.

MIGRATION POLICY OF RUSSIA AND CHINA: MAIN DIRECTIONS AND SPHERES OF INTERACTION

At the present stage, Russian-Chinese relations have the character of a stable partnership, successful strategic interaction in all spheres: international, economic, scientific, military-technical, cultural and educational. The relevance of the study of relations between Russia and China is due to a clear and visible tendency towards their constant development and country rapprochement. The main vectors of development of interaction between countries are reflected in the landmark Treaty on Good Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation between the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China of July 16, 2001. At the moment, more than 300 intergovernmental treaties and agreements have been concluded between the countries. One of the priority directions of Russia's foreign policy is the systematic deepening of cooperation with China. The demographic and socio-economic needs of Russia dictate the need to revise the existing approach and to form new migration thinking. External migration policy should be based on improving the existing legal and regulatory system of migration regulation in Russia and foreign policy activities aimed at realizing the country's national interests in the field of socio-economic development. This article examines the main areas of cooperation between Russia and China from the times of the USSR to the present. The main sources of migration law are analyzed - federal legislative acts and state programs of the Russian Federation, international legal acts that are an integral part of the legal system of the Russian Federation, bilateral agreements and initiatives between the Russian Federation and the PRC, as well as the basic principles and foundations of China's migration policy.

The use of pseudo-causal narratives in EU policies: the case of the European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa

ABSTRACT The EUTF aims to address the ‘root causes of migration’ by providing development assistance to countries of origin and transit. While it is allegedly based on scientific evidence, scholarly consensus suggests that development assistance is ill-suited to address irregular migration – which is something that some of the actors who designed the EUTF were aware of. We advance a new framework for understanding the emergence and success of pseudo-causal narratives (i.e., narratives relying on unproven and/or disproven causal claims) in EU policymaking. Using frame analysis, we argue that the pseudo-causal ‘root causes’ narrative was adopted against better evidence because it was plausible, compelling and had been used in EU external migration policies before. Faced with the salience of migration and the urgency to act in late 2015, and due to the absence of any clear ideas of what other measures could work, EU actors adopted this narrative to demonstrate that they were actively responding to the ‘crisis’. The narrative met little contestation, since it met the concerns of both those who were keen to stop migration and those who wanted to preserve the core of previous EU development policy.

The Politicization of the Migration–Development Nexus: Parliamentary Discourse on the European Union Trust Fund on Migration

AbstractThe European Union's development policy has become increasingly intertwined with other policy fields, which erodes the objectives of this policy domain in their own right. We specifically look at the linkages with migration policy, which has been a highly politicized EU policy domain. This article assesses the EU migration–development discursive linkages by addressing two related questions: how and to what extent has this nexus been politicized in Europe? We focus on two dimensions of politicization, namely salience and the polarization of opinions within the context of national parliaments. Through a conceptualization of argumentation lines this article sheds light on how the nexus has been translated into political communication by political actors. We conclude that there are varying, often opposing, argumentation lines on how the migration–development nexus is conceived – that are more complex than the distinction between ‘preventive’ and ‘restrictive’ approaches as identified in the literature on EU external migration policy.

The ‘inward-looking’ securitization of the EU external migration policy in the New Pact on Migration and Asylum: a critical appraisal from a perspective of international law with reference to migration from Africa

The ‘inward-looking’ securitization of the EU external migration policy in the New Pact on Migration and Asylum: a critical appraisal from a perspective of international law with reference to migration from Africa

The Labyrinth of Employment and Social Rights in the EU Intra-Corporate Transfer Directive

Directive 2014/66/EU on Intra-Corporate Transfer regulates the temporary secondment of key personnel and trainees from third countries to the Member States of the EU. It is part of the EU external labour migration policy and aims at facilitating this policy by setting up harmonised conditions for admission, residence and work of these migrants, including the right to move and work in another Member State. This article analyses the role and meaning of the provisions in this Directive relating to the employment and social security rights of intra-corporate transferees. They are the result of cumbersome negotiations and the compromises that were reached are ambiguously and inconsistently formulated. First, this article will highlight the relevance of the worker’s employment position for determining the scope of this Directive. Next, it will analyse the role of employment and social security rights in the implementation of the Directive by the Member States. These rights are relevant as criteria for admission, as grounds for rejection of an application, as grounds for withdrawal or non-renewal of an ICT permit and as conditions for short-term and long-term mobility within the EU. Subsequently, this article will scrutinise, in detail, the provisions of Article 18 of the Directive which guarantee equal treatment with the nationals of the host State in respect of employment and social security rights. Special attention will be paid to the interrelationship of this Directive with other EU legal instruments such as the Posting of Workers Directive, the Rome I Regulation and social security Regulation 883/2004. It concludes that the complicated and contradictorily worded provisions on employment and social security rights in this Directive reflect the ambiguity in the perception of the status of this type of migrant worker coming from a third country: are they to be considered as temporary workers or do they really participate in the labour market of the host Member States?

Book Review: Constitutionalizing the External Dimensions of EU Migration Policies in Times of Crisis – Legality, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Reconsidered

Constitutionalising the External Dimensions of EU Migration Policies in Times of Crisis, Legality, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Reconsidered, Edited by Sergio Carrera, Juan Santos Vara and Tineke Strik, London, 2019, 336 p. ISBN: PB: 978 1 78897 247 5. Reviewed by João Carlos Jarochinski Silva. The book edited by Sergio Carrera, Juan Santos Vara and Tineke Strik brings essential contributions to two of the most critical challenges of the European Union today: the decrease in integration and the breakdown of institutionalism in the face of human mobility of extra-community people. Stemming from a workshop held in 2017 at the University of Salamanca, it is divided into two parts. The first, EU External Migration Policies: New and old dynamics, which has six articles; and the second, EU crisis-led patterns of cooperation in light of the EU rule of law, which is composed of nine articles. In addition to these fifteen articles, the editors wrote an introductory chapter.

Another nexus? Exploring narratives on the linkage between EU external migration policies and the democratization of the southern Mediterranean neighbourhood

Since the beginning of the twenty-first century and after two turning point events – 09-11 terrorist attacks and the ‘Arab spring’ – both migration control and democracy promotion became central issues within EU foreign policy, in particular to what concern its relations with the southern Mediterranean neighbourhood. However, although many authors allude to the relation between these two policy dimensions, little is known about their linkage. On the one hand, the debate about EU external migration policies narratives has revolved mainly around the migration-security and migration-development nexus. On the other, whereas the developmental paradigm has dominated the root-causes approach little attention has been given to its political dimension. This article aims to overcome these limitations through exploring these other nexus: the one between these policies and the democratization of southern Mediterranean countries. To investigate this nexus I follow a Narrative Policy Analysis approach - the most suitable for investigating issues of high complexity, uncertainty and polarization, which seems to be precisely the case of EU external migration policies. Hence, drawing on longitudinal and interpretative content analysis of EU official documents covering the period between 1995 and 2018, this study seeks to expose the main narratives casted by the EU on the issue and to identify if there has been consistence or change in the stories and arguments over time and in particular, before and after the ‘Arab spring’. Ultimately, the goal was to confirm the presence of this nexus by exposing its complexity and trying to understand its configuration. This is considered as an important step towards further disentangling the logics and impacts of the externalization of EU migration policies towards its Southern Mediterranean neighbourhood.