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Abstract
The article analyzes the European Union's (EU) migration strategies toward the Arab states in the light of the Arab uprisings in a comparative context. Going through migratory processes related to Egypt, Libya, and Syria, the article discusses Middle Eastern migration and its diverse manifestations, critically assessing the relevance of the EU's migration policy ambitions vis-à-vis the different challenges in the Mediterranean region. In its theoretical approach, the article draws on the concept of non-traditional security, demonstrating that migration constitutes an anarchistic element in the relations between states, which goes beyond traditional foreign policy means. The article characterizes recent EU initiatives concerning migration and demonstrates that despite the fact that the EU has declared migration “one of the strategic priorities in the external relations of the Union,” it seems apparent that the EU has not been able to develop adequate new approaches regarding migration. Many of the suggested initiatives within the framework of the new EU foreign policy setup have not been established yet—they remain preliminary works in progress, projects in different stages or legislative procedures under negotiation between EU institutions. Summing up the cases of Egypt, Libya, and Syria, the article concludes that the migration phenomenon since the start of the Arab unrest in early 2011 constitutes a highly important issue in European–Middle Eastern relations, regarding which, the EU foreign and security measures seem to be relevant only to some degree.
Notes
1. A dialogue for migration, mobility, and security with the southern Mediterranean countries. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions (Brussels: European Commission, 2011).
2. Alexandros Bitoulas, Population and Social Conditions. Eurostat. Statistics in Focus (Brussels: European Commission, 2012).
3. Ibid., 1.
4. Peter Feuilherade, “Refugee Tides Surge across Arab World.” The Middle East 429: 30–33 (2012).
5. Myron Weiner, “Security, Stability, and International Migration,” in Anthony Geddes, ed., International Migration (Los Angeles: Sage, 2011), 245.
6. The article is part of a larger research project, analyzing foreign policy and security relations between the EU and the Middle East in the last decades. As such, it is a desk study, building on earlier and forthcoming publications; see http://www.sdu.dk/staff/seeberg
7. Christopher Rudolph, “Security and the Political Economy of International Migration.” American Political Science Review 97: 603–620 (2003).
8. Anthony Geddes, “Europe's Border Relationships and International Migration Relations.” Journal of Common Market Studies 43: 787–806 (2005).
9. Ibid., 795.
10. Ahmet İçduygu, “The Politics of Irregular Migratory Flows in the Mediterranean Basin: Economy, Mobility and Illegality.” Mediterranean Politics 12: 141–162 (2007).
11. Barry Buzan, Ole Wæver, and Jaap de Wilde, Security: A New Framework for Analysis (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publications, 1998).
12. European Commission, Press Release, Stronger Cooperation and Mobility at the Centre of the Renewed EU Migration Strategy. http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/11/1369&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en (accessed 10 June 2012).
13. Joint Communication to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, A New Response to a Changing Neighbourhood (Bruxelles: EU Commission, 2011).
14. Furthermore, it is mentioned that so-called Migration and Mobility Resource Centers will be set up to provide resources and support to individuals and partner countries in the areas of skills and labor matching, an online EU Immigration Portal will help migrants in their mobility toward the EU. The whole setup will be analyzed in a report on the “Global Approach …” every two years. See link to Press Release in note 13.
15. See the EU 2020 homepage: http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/index_en.htm (accessed 10 June 2012).
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17. Joint Communication to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, A New Response to a Changing Neighbourhood (Bruxelles: EU Commission, 2011).
18. Ibid., 11.
19. The Global Approach to Migration and Mobility. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions (Bruxelles: EU Commission, 2011).
20. UNDP 2009, Human Development Report 2009. Overcoming Barriers: Human Mobility and Development, in Jeni Klugman, ed. (New York: UNDP, 2009).
21. The Global Approach to Migration and Mobility. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions (Bruxelles: EU Commission, 2011), 7.
22. Ibid., 15.
23. Ibid., 19.
24. Peter Feuilherade, “Refugee Tides Surge across Arab World,” 32.
25. Anne Sofie Westh Olsen, “The ‘Right’ Mobility Partnership between the European Union, Morocco and Tunisia” DIIS Policy Brief (Copenhagen: Danish Institute for International Studies, 2011).
26. Anna di Bartolomeo, Thibaut Jaulin, and Delphine Perrin, Palestine. CARIM - Migration Profile (Florence: Euro-Mediterranean Consortium for Applied Research on International Migration, 2011).
27. Philippe Fargues, “Immigration without Inclusion: Non-Nationals in Nation-Building in the Gulf States.” Asian and Pacific Migration Journal 20: 273–292 (2011).
28. Anna di Bartolomeo, Tamirace Fakhoury, and Delphine Perrin, Egypt (Florence: Euro-Mediterranean Consortium for Applied Research on International Migration, 2011).
29. World Bank, Migration and Remittances Factbook (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2011).
30. Howeida Roman, Transit Migration in Egypt. Research Reports (Florence: European University Institute, 2006), 33.
31. Dina Abdelfattah, Impact of Arab Revolts on Migration. CARIM Analytic and Synthetic Notes (Florence: European University Institute, 2011).
32. Ibid., 1, 8.
33. Roberto Pitea and Reham Hussain, eds., Egypt after January 25. Survey of Youth Migration (Cairo: IOM, 2011).
34. Ibid., 21.
35. See the EEAS homepage: http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/11/1369&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en (accessed June 10, 2012).
36. Dina Abdelfattah, “Impact of Arab Revolts on Migration. CARIM Analytic and Synthetic Notes,” 13.
37. See the IOM homepage: http://www.migration-crisis.com/libya/reports/view/589 (accessed 10 June 2012).
38. Bredeloup, Sylvie and Olivier Pliez, The Libyan Migration Corridor. Research Report, Case Study, EU-US Immigration Systems (Florence: European University Institute, 2011).
39. ”A Dialogue for Migration, Mobility, and Security with the Southern Mediterranean Countries,” 2.
40. Dina Abdelfattah, “Impact of Arab Revolts on Migration. CARIM Analytic and Synthetic Notes,” 14.
41. Peter Feuilherade, “Refugee Tides Surge across Arab World.” The Middle East 429: 31 (2012).
42. Operational Media Update: NATO and Libya, Allied Joint Force Command Naples, Shape, NATO HQ (Naples: NATO, 2011).
43. Barah Mikail, “The Multiple Challenges of Libya's Reconstruction.” Fride Policy Brief 114: 4 (2012).
44. Ibid., 5.
45. EU support to Libya. Press Releases RAPID, see homepage: http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/11/779&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en (accessed June 10, 2012).
46. Anna di Bartolomeo, Thibaut Jaulin, and Delphine Perrin, Palestine, Syria. CARIM - Migration Profile (Florence: Euro-Mediterranean Consortium for Applied Research on International Migration, 2011), 1.
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48. John Chalcraft, “Of Specters and Disciplined Commodities: Syrian Migrant Workers in Lebanon.” Middle East Report 236: 28–33 (2005); John Chalcraft, “Syrian Migrant Workers in Lebanon: The Limits of Transnational Integration, Communitarian Solidarity, and Popular Agency.” EUI Working Papers, RSCAS 26: 1–21 (2006).
49. Mona Yacubian, “Syria's Role in Lebanon,” USIPeace Briefing (2006), see homepage: http://www.usip.org/files/resources/syria_lebanon.pdf (accessed June 10, 2012).
50. Philippe Fargues, “Work, Refuge, Transit: An Emerging Pattern of Irregular Migration South and East of the Mediterranean.” International Migration Review 43: 553 (2006).
51. Muhammad Wahbe, “Syrian Workers in Lebanon is a Must,” (translated from Arabic) Al Khayyam Online (2008).
52. Peter Seeberg, “The EU as a Realist Actor in Normative Clothes: EU Democracy Promotion in Lebanon and the European Neighbourhood Policy.” Democratization 16: 81–99 (2009); Anthony Cordesman, Iran's Support for the Hezbollah in Lebanon (Washington: CSIS. Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2006).
53. Peter Feuilherade, “Refugee Tides Surge across Arab World,” 31.
54. Situation in North Lebanon, Lebanon Update, see homepage: http://www.unhcr.org/4f3e557d9.html (accessed June 10, 2012).