EU mobility partnerships: a smart instrument for the externalization of migration control

Abstract

The text deals with a policy instrument developed by the European Union, namely the so called Mobility Partnerships. Framed within the “Global Approach to Migration and Mobility” of the EU, this rather new concept (1) is promoting new ways of legal migration, (2) is combating irregular migration and human trafficking, and (3) strengthening the nexus between migration and development. In the end, a “Win-Win-Win” situation should be established for all the parties being involved: Migrants, originand destination countries. What characterizes the partnerships in the first place is flexibility: on the one hand the optional involvement by EU-member states and on the other the wide and flexible range of contents. Signatories are the EU Commission, participating member states and in each declaration one third state. For the moment, partnerships with following countries do exist: Cape Verde, Moldova, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Morocco and Tunisia. The text gives a general introduction and analysis on the EU Mobility Partnerships plus the specific case of the Mobility Partnership with Moldova. Three essential research questions are raised to be answered: (1) First, how and with what purpose are different aspects (migration, security, development, labour market and economy) linked within the Mobility Partnerships? (2) Second, which interests and actors underlie the partnerships? (3) And third, what perception of “development” is accompanied by the new policy instrument? These questions are answered through the methodological approach of the hermeneutic data analysis and the theory of the critical border- and migrationregime.