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1. Türkiye-EU Relations and the European Political Community in the Aftermath of Russian Invasion: Is the Transactional Turn Here to Stay?

Author:
Başak Alpan
Publication Date:
02-2024
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
IEMed/EuroMeSCo
Abstract:
Bilateral relations between Türkiye and the European Union (EU) acquired an EU conditionality dimension with the 1999 Helsinki decision, granting the country the EU candidacy status. Nevertheless, especially since the March 2016 EU-Turkey Statement, also known as Türkiye-EU Refugee Deal, what we see is a thorough shift in Türkiye-EU relations from a conditionality perspective to transactionalism, coupled with several domestic and international developments. In the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the significance of geopolitics and the heightened relevance of realpolitik also contributed to a renewed focus on strategic and pragmatic issues, relegating normative concerns to the background within Türkiye-EU relations. All in all, the shift from a conditionality perspective to a security-based logic within the framework of Türkiye-EU relations was mainly determined and characterised by the so-called “transactional turn”. Within this very transactionalist paradigm, both the EU and Türkiye want to pursue their short-term interests at the expense of a long-term principled engagement for some time. The launch of the European Political Community (EPC) on 6 October 2022 with 44 European heads of state and government (including all 27 EU member states as well as Türkiye) also contributed to this transactional tide, which aimed to “emphasise European geopolitical cooperation in light of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine; to remedy enlargement fatigue by providing an additional forum for exchange between EU candidates and member states; as well as create a forum for exchange with non-EU security actors” (Tcherneva, 2023). The EPC’s rather flexible structure and focus on mini-lateralism, which could provide greater freedom for leaders to focus on their immediate concerns, also raises eyebrows about whether the EPC would be attentive enough (and even have the mandate) to safeguard human rights, democracy, and the rule of law (Jurkovic, 2023). In light of these debates, the aims of this paper are twofold. First, it aims to explore how recent transactional initiatives between Türkiye and the EU in general and the EPC initiative in particular have unfolded and have been perceived by the Turkish diplomats and foreign policy experts. This endeavour to understand the Turkish perceptions of Türkiye-EU relations mainly focusing on recent transactionalism between the parties will be explored with a particular focus on three thematic layers, namely the foreign policy, migration and energy through semi-structured interviews with Turkish diplomats and foreign policy experts. The main rationale behind picking up these thematic layers is to identify, analyse and describe better the complex nature of Türkiye-EU relations with a particular focus on these policy fields (namely foreign policy, migration and energy), which recently witnessed the highest intensity of interactions between two parties. Second, the paper discusses the significance of the EPC within this very transactional turn and aims to understand whether the EPC is another repercussion of the increasing transactionalism. The final aim of the paper will be to understand whether the EU foreign policy, on the one hand, and the bilateral Türkiye-EU relations, on the other, would evolve in a completely transactional and security-based manner leaving no room for normativity amidst the current global uncertainties and challenges, as well as bringing together policy recommendations for the future.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Migration, Bilateral Relations, European Union, and Russia-Ukraine War
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, and Middle East

2. The Migration Agreements in Euro-Mediterranean Relations for a Geopolitical Europe

Author:
Ezgi Irgil
Publication Date:
02-2024
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
IEMed/EuroMeSCo
Abstract:
The discussion about the implications of an objective like strategic autonomy has primarily circled the question, could the Europeans defend themselves against a Russian offensive without US support? (Barrie et al., 2019; Meijer & Brooks, 2021). This scenario is a critical one, especially considering the long-term implications of the Russia-Ukraine war. Nevertheless, it presents a narrow view of European security interests shaped only by challenges from its eastern flank. As a result, the debate tends to emphasize the need to invest in European ground and air capabilities for a Cold War-like scenario of military operations on the continent. This paper does not discount the demands of the Russian challenge on Europe’s military posture, but it offers a different perspective by looking at an under-researched topic: the concurrent need to secure European interests in the maritime domain vis-à-vis threats originating from the area going from the Mediterranean to the Strait of Hormuz.
Topic:
Security, Migration, Geopolitics, and Strategic Autonomy
Political Geography:
Europe and Mediterranean

3. Cooperation on Readmission in the Euro-Mediterranean Area and Beyond: Lessons Learned and Unlearned

Author:
Jean-Pierre Cassarino, Lorenzo Gabrielli, and Delphine Perrin
Publication Date:
04-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
IEMed/EuroMeSCo
Abstract:
This joint policy study examines the European Union’s (EU) readmission system in the context of the Euro-Mediterranean and Euro-African regions and its impact on interstate cooperation, human rights observance, and migrants’ conditions. The authors suggest rethinking how these issues are tackled by emphasising that asymmetrical patterns of cooperation on readmission result not only from unequal costs and benefits but also from meaningful relations between state actors. The study discusses how cooperation on readmission between EU and non-EU countries in the Mediterranean and Africa has altered patterns of interdependence and interactions beyond migration governance. It explores how informalisation has been presented as a solution to uncertainties, with some non-EU countries expressing their own reverse conditionalities and reveals the limits of international cooperation on readmission. The study analyses the case of Morocco, which has become a crucial player in controlling migration between Europe and Africa, and how it has skilfully leveraged its cooperation with the EU to achieve its own goals. It advocates for a more balanced approach to migration management that takes into account human rights and the need for formal migration pathways. It looks into the negative effects of intra-African expulsions on migrants’ human rights and the safety of people on the move and discusses how the physical obstacles to mobility have resulted in violence and social instability, which has led to less safe, orderly, and regular migration within Africa.
Topic:
Human Rights, Migration, Regional Cooperation, Governance, and European Union
Political Geography:
North Africa, Morocco, and Mediterranean

4. Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia: A Comparative Perspective on Maghreb Countries Migration Cooperation with their West African Neighbours

Author:
Abdeslam Badre, Irene Schöfberger, and Ekaterina Golovko
Publication Date:
06-2022
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
IEMed/EuroMeSCo
Abstract:
In February 2022, the European Union (EU) and African Union (AU) both committed, in a Joint Vision to works towards an “enhanced and reciprocal partnership for migration and mobility”. Meanwhile the EU is still aspiring to carry into effect the pending New Pact on Migration and Asylum, particularly as part of the fourth objective of the New Agenda for the Mediterranean (“jointly address the challenges of forced displacement and irregular migration and facilitate safe and legal pathways for migration and mobility”). The ability to reach these objectives and to re-impulse cooperation with regards to migration management is conditioned by the cooperation schemes between the EU and its Southern partner countries, and between Southern partner countries themselves. The transition North African countries have experienced from emigrant into transit and destination countries from migrant, marks a turning point in the migratory history of the region. North and West Africa’s demands for ensuring safe and humane migration flows and management continue to be challenged by the continuous influx of sub-Saharan mobility. Against this background, there is a growing need to strengthen South-South, North-South and South-North cooperation by harmonising the management of various aspects related to human mobility, such as synchronising national and regional border management; ensuring the implementation of cross-border migration human rights mechanism; enforcing regional and trans-regional diaspora engagement and the involvement of domestic civil society actors in policy legislation processes. These steps need to be taken in order to ensure due protection of the living conditions of immigrants and people on the move in the region. This Joint Policy Study addresses these considerations through three individual contributions structured in four chapters. The first chapter analyses national and regional policy frameworks in place, looking at three Maghreb countries: Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. The second chapter examines the regional and trans-regional relevance of West African diaspora policies. The third part assesses the Algeria-Niger bilateral cooperation in the light of the EU borders’ externalisation process and the last chapter analyses the role of civil society organizations in the policymaking consultations in the Maghreb.
Topic:
Migration, Regional Cooperation, European Union, and African Union
Political Geography:
Algeria, North Africa, West Africa, Morocco, and Tunisia

5. Beyond Networks, Militias and Tribes: Rethinking EU Counter-Smuggling Policy and Response

Author:
Gabriella Sanchez, Kheira Arrouche, Matteo Capasso, Angeliki Dimitriadi, and Alia Fakhry
Publication Date:
05-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
IEMed/EuroMeSCo
Abstract:
Countering migrant smuggling and its actors – described as the men behind the facilitation of migrants’ irregular journeys – are important elements of the European Union (EU)’s migration and border control policy. Under the new Pact on Migration and Asylum, the EU has proposed to promote tailor-made and mutually beneficial partnerships with third countries specifically to address migrant smuggling. EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson has also promised a predictable and reliable migration management system that includes “stepping up the fight against human traffickers and smugglers”. The EU has certainly taken important steps to counter irregular migration, including making considerable financial commitments to the fight against smugglers and their networks, to whom the journeys of irregular migrants into Europe are almost single-handedly attributed. Smugglers, characterised as inherently violent and exploitative, are also described as relying on a specific business model that generates incalculable earnings. Much has been written about how these profits, if unmonitored, can be funnelled by smugglers into other criminal enterprises like drug trafficking or weapons smuggling, but also into the more nefarious practices of sex trafficking or terrorism. Within this context, smugglers are also said to exploit an ever-growing number of naïve and desperate victims, primarily young men from sub-Saharan Africa who, driven solely by the power of social media and the iconography portraying European soil as a dreamed destination, do not think twice about embarking on dangerous journeys across vast deserts and seas. At high level policy events and academic exchanges, participants often cite examples of young men who, tricked by Facebook and Instagram posts, arrive in Europe after enduring harrowing experiences only to find themselves in even more desperate situations of homelessness and deprivation, having believed the lies and false promises of smugglers, friends and family members posted online. Migrant women, on the other hand, tend to be described as young sex slaves or prostitutes, victims of the depravity of sexually-predatory smugglers who do not hesitate to exploit them for profit in cities across North Africa and Europe. Migrants do face violence and intimidation at the hands of smugglers. These experiences have been documented at length in a vast number of reports targeting European audiences. Kidnapping, extortion, and physical and sexual assault are undeniable and troubling realities on the migration pathway, and migrants do experience them often at the hands of smugglers. Women, girls, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and questioning migrants are also more vulnerable to specific forms of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), which are often compounded by racism and other forms of discrimination – this does not preclude the fact that SGBV against migrant men is also common on the migrant trail. This policy study, developed by a team of migration scholars based in EU research institutions, argues that while these general notions have guided the mainstream, collective understanding of migrant smuggling, they do in fact pose several and serious limitations that, if not considered closely, can lead to faulty conclusions and inadequate policy responses. Echoing other studies, this report shows that irregular migration and counter-smuggling policy are often based on limited empirical data, drawn from similar if not identical stakeholders, and developed by a reduced and identifiable core of researchers (most of them, European and/or Europe-based). While this body of work has to a large extent expanded the understanding of smuggling, it has simultaneously privileged Euro-centric perspectives and law enforcement priorities at the expense of silencing the experiences (other than those involving victimisation and abuse) of the very people who rely on smugglers for their journeys. Chapter one examines how research has shown that while in most law enforcement, policy and academic circles the facilitation of irregular migration for profit is articulated as a crime, for most migrants the people behind their journeys merely facilitate a service of mobility, which may be in some instances illicit but not criminal, rooted in the lack of accessible, affordable, legal and safe paths for migration. These actors, commonly depicted in academic publications and research reports as heinously violent and predatory members of tribes or other ethnic and racialised groups, are quite often valued and well-respected people in communities across North Africa and the Sahel, trusted for the efficiency of their mobility, trade and transportation services. Known or depicted as smugglers in policy reports, these facilitators are quite often ordinary men and women, recognised for their contributions to the local economy, including the provision of mobility solutions for young and adult migrants unable to secure the protections afforded by passports or visas.
Topic:
Migration, Regional Cooperation, European Union, and Trafficking
Political Geography:
Europe

6. Territorial Impact of Migration on Frontline Regions and Cities on the EU Shores of the Mediterranean

Author:
Aleksandra Chmielewska, Virginia Dicuonzo, Olimpia Dragouni, Agnieszka Kulesa, and Katarzyna Sidlo
Publication Date:
09-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
IEMed/EuroMeSCo
Abstract:
Migration has had a strong impact on cities and regions throughout the European Union (EU), especially on the frontline member states (MS). As such, it has also been an area of interest for the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), which on 19 March 2021 adopted an opinion on the New Pact on Migration and Asylum (CIVEX-VII/005). In the document, the CoR expressed concern that “the local and regional dimension has not been sufficiently taken into account [in the Pact] and that the countries on the EU’s external borders are once again to have primary responsibility for arrival and registration”1 Furthermore, on 1 July 2021, the CoR adopted an opinion on the “Renewed partnership with the Southern Neighbourhood – A new Agenda for the Mediterranean” (JOIN/2021/2 final)2 While highlighting the inefficiency of the measures adopted by the EU in relation to migration, the document stressed the fact that “in the absence of further joint instruments at European level, including an appropriate distribution mechanism to relocate migrants, the burden of managing the migrant emergency falls primarily on the local and regional authorities of the European countries on the front line, in particular the border regions and communities in the south of the EU, which are under greater pressure from migratory flows in the Mediterranean” 3 Against this background, the aim of the present study is threefold. First, it provides information on the recent (2020-2021) impact of migration flows via Mediterranean routes on the EU frontline regions and cities. Second, it takes a closer look at the local integration strategies developed in these frontline regions and cities which have been transforming the potential of migratory flows into social and economic gains benefitting both the host community and the thirdcountry nationals (TCNs). To this end, five case studies are being presented as part of the study: Barcelona (Spain), Milan (Italy), Thessaloniki (Greece), Nicosia District (Cyprus), and the South East Region of Malta. Last but not least, the study also serves as a source of information for the CoR’s Annual Regional and Local Barometer.
Topic:
Migration, European Union, Borders, and Territory
Political Geography:
Europe and Mediterranean