The European Union’s Immigration Policy

The attempts of the European Union (EU) to externalize its immigration policy towards non-EU member states have significantly increased in momentum during the 20 00s in response to intensifying concerns about the changing context of the EU’s external security challenges and its strategic aim to guarantee stability and peace in its neighborhood through fostering development. Accordingly, four main developments have characterized the external dimension of the EU’s immigration policy. Firstly, the 2004 and 2007 eastern enlargements brought a new debate to the EU concerning the security of its expanded borders, especially against increasing flows of irregular migrants and asylum seekers. Secondly, the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the subsequent attacks in Madrid and London, and the Paris attack in 2015 led to an increasing emphasis on linking migration issues with security and terrorism. Thirdly, owing to intensifying demographic challenges in the EU, migration started to be addressed within a Europe-wide debate about the transformation of European welfare states and the consequent need for new migrants within Europe’s labor markets. Lastly, following the Arab Spring and civil war in Syria, European states are confronted with the biggest refugee crisis on their doors since World War II. Thus, the EU’s perception of immigration has become somewhat paradoxical: on the one hand, the EU views increasing migration flows as a security challenge to be controlled through establishing effective cooperation mechanisms with third countries and influencing their migration policies in order to ensure the sustainability of the EU’s internal security; on the other hand, it also recognizes that migration can be a tool for development, in both the EU and non-member third countries. As a result of this tension that has developed around the twin discourses of ‘security’ and ‘development’, the gradual evolution of the external dimension of the EU’s immigration policy and its implications for third countries has emerged as a new and challenging field worthy of study, both theoretically and empirically.

This chapter presents a broad theoretical and conceptual framework for analyzing the externalization of the EU’s immigration policy. It scrutinizes the relevant theoretical framework and approaches that include various interlinked themes and concepts as well as potential constraints on the formulation and implementation of policy externalization. More specifically, ‘external governance’ and ‘Europeanization beyond Europe’ are studied to guide the research. The empirical links and tools discussed in this chapter are then applied to the migration field with a focus on the nature, scope, actors, modes and limits of cooperation concerning relations between the EU and third countries. Finally, two main approaches are examined, namely remote control and root cause, that help to explain the essential motives behind the EU’s externalization of its migration policy towards third countries.

This chapter provides an overview of some milestones in the emergence, institutionalization and further development of the external dimension of the EU’s immigration policy. It examines the specific policy areas in externalizing European immigration policy by focusing on border management, mobility partnerships, visa policies, readmission agreements and asylum policy. Lastly, the EU’s cooperation with third countries is considered in the context of the debated issue of ‘shifting the burden’ or ‘sharing the burden’ by referring to the negative externalities created by cooperation for third countries. It provides a basis for a critical policy analysis to understand whether the EU’s policy practice meets its policy objectives, before applying them to the case studies of Turkey and Morocco.

The chapter explores the conceptualization of Turkey as a transit migration country and assesses the implications of the EU’s actions to externalize its migration policy within the enlargement process. It analyzes the way transit migration in Turkey has been approached within the EU’s enlargement policy under existing dynamics concerning Turkey on the one hand and the EU’s efforts to externalize its immigration policy on the other. Europeanization of Turkey’s immigration policy is tested in terms of its progress on legislative adaptation, border management, visa policy, readmission agreement and asylum policy. The limits and deadlocks of cooperation that reveal the negative externalities imposed on Turkey are also studied as influential factors concerning the transformation and the success of cooperation in the policy field.

This chapter analyzes how and to what extent Morocco’s immigration policies are affected by the EU, and what the implications are for Morocco of the EU’s externalization of its immigration policy. It explains the progress and limits of this cooperation in terms of harmonization of legislation, border management, visa policy, readmission agreements and asylum policy. The chapter highlights both convergence and divergences of policy cooperation in migration, irrespective of grand policy frameworks but rather by attending to the similar deadlocks concerning migration policy. The negative externalities raised for Morocco are studied to understand how EU immigration policy may have similar implications for third countries, which might help explain the resistance of these countries to accepting further EU externalization.

This chapter presents the concluding remarks derived from three main strands of analysis: theoretical debate, conceptual and institutional analysis and comparative analysis. Accordingly, the research findings examine the relevance of current theoretical debates and also consider a number of shortcomings in explaining the general framework concerning EU policy externalization in general. The comparative analysis between Turkey and Morocco indicates that the debate over the EU’s externalization of its immigration policy is more likely to be perceived as shifting the burden of keeping unwanted migrants onto non-member transit countries, rather than sharing the burden with them. Finally, the chapter provides some policy suggestions for their future cooperation prospect on migration management.