The External Dimension of EU Migration Policy

Abstract

The policies relating to the management of migration - control of external borders, asylum and immigration have been, as is well known, sovereign prerogatives for excellence. The long-standing refuse of the EU Member States to provide them to a supranational government is a clear evidence of that. Determined to retain the exclusive control over the migrants, States have continued, to handle the situation. This paper aims to reconstruct the foundations of the external dimension of EU migration policy, in order to highlight its complexity, resulting from the global scope of the problem and by its sensitive nature. If the global reach of migration invites the adoption of a coherent strategy that, gives substantial and structural interdependence between internal and external dimensions, allows to strengthen the Union’s credibility on the international stage, the sensitive nature of migration policy confirms ‘the opportunity to implement flexible solutions suitable to shape the criterion of added value. Defining the conditions of consistency and flexibility to which the Union’s external action can bring the management of migration - a management which will pursue all objectives of the EU’s migration policy in accordance with the its principles, such as solidarity and the protection of fundamental rights - is the focus of this paper.