EUROSUR: saving lives or building borders?

Abstract

This article analyses the origins and development of the European Border Surveillance System (EUROSUR) in order to better understand its functioning in view of its stated objectives. Particular attention will be devoted to the European Commission’s recurring claim that one of EUROSUR’s main goals is to save lives at sea. This contribution questions that assertion. It rather considers EUROSUR as representative of the steady, technocratic development of a European system for border management. The reliance on the exchange of information, the reinforcement of FRONTEX, the European Union’s agency for the coordination of operational cooperation between national border guards and the emphasis on cooperation with third countries support this claim.

Keywords:

• EUROSUR
• FRONTEX
• migration
• border policy
• European Union decision-making

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Jorrit Rijpma is an Associate Professor of European Union law at the Europa Institute of the Leiden Law School.Mathias Vermeulen is a research fellow at the European University Institute in Florence.