The external aspect of migration policy

Abstract

This paper seeks to give a thorough grasp of the migration policy of the EU, specifically the measures and policies connected directly with the countries of origin and transit of immigrants. The purpose is to identify what the most suitable external components of the migration policy should be in order that such a policy may become a more active and positive instrument to consolidate a prosperous and stable Euro-Mediterranean Area. The underlying question is about the pertinence of the EU policy since it is not so clear that all the measures adopted and envisaged to be implemented in the future are enough to stabilize the periphery and consolidate a prosperous frontier area.

In this article I show how the Community migration policy is limited so far to a set of measures and instruments thought to secure integrity of borders and to control as much as possible the entry into the EU territory. The analysis of the external components of the migration policy (frontier measures, border control instruments, visa policy, readmission standard clause, cooperation with third countries, readmission agreements and action plans) puts in evidence the priority given by the EU to the elimination of irregular immigration and the protection of community borders from a potential and, to a great extent unrealistic, prospect of massive movement of people. I argue that the Community's perception of immigration is much more that of a danger or a threat than a factor of social change and cultural interdependence. The restrictive criteria guiding the community measures reflect such a perception and encourage a rigid management of the external borders. That could easily lead to the development of an 'exclusion zone' in the periphery around the EU. I try to put in evidence that this way of acting is an 'error'-in the sense used by engineers-, i.e., it causes a difference between desired and actual performance. To put it in another words, while the EU is aiming the stability of its immediate periphery, the measures and actions implemented and envisaged to be adopted in the near future under the migration policy are in contradiction with this purpose. I defend in this article that the promotion of a permeable frontier could be a key variable in promoting stability in the Euro-Mediterranean area.