The Conflicting Aims of the European Neighborhood Policy and its Secondary Effects

Abstract

Protecting the external borders of the European Union (EU) has been one of the key priorities of European policy makers in the last decade. Extending border controls beyond EU territories in order to fight ongoing issues such as migration has been one of the major strategies conducted by the EU to guarantee the security of Europe's borders. The European Neighborhood Policy has played a pivotal role in ensuring that the neighbors complied with the EU's interest by offering political and economic rewards. Compliance is also enhanced through the “Seville Doctrine.” The paper challenges the idea that the “war on migrants” is a common shared interest for the EU and North African states, arguing that it is rather an EU security interest which does not necessarily correspond with the neighbors priorities. Finally, the paper focuses on the implementation of externalization in Morocco and critically analyzes the non-desired secondary effects generated by the adoption of EU-made migration policies.

Notes

1 This article will prioritize other expressions alternative to “illegal” and less ideological connotations such as “unauthorized” and will only use the former when quoting EU documents.