Re-bordering Europe? Collective action barriers to ‘Fortress Europe’

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the collective action problems associated with different kinds of joint external bordering and highlights specific aspects of the European Union which I argue make it particularly ineffective at supplying (many) forms of external bordering. Applying this framework to the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy, European Immigration Policy, and European Neighbourhood Policy, I explain why each of these areas is subject to chronic under-provision. I conclude that a ‘Fortress Europe’ is unlikely to materialize, giving rise instead to national re-bordering as a reaction to growing pressures on the Union’s internal and external borders.

KEYWORDS:

• Public goods theory
• EU external bordering
• CSDP
• Migration policy
• ‘Fortress Europe.’

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Travel bans are covered by Art.29 of Directive 2004/38/EC which allows Member States to limit free movement in the event of a ‘disease with epidemic potential.’ On 16 March 2020, the European Commission published ‘COVID-19: Guidelines for border management measures to protect health and ensure the availability of goods and essential services (2020/C 86 I/01) which clarified that ‘in an extremely critical situation, a Member State can identify a need to reintroduce border controls as a reaction to the risk posed by a contagious disease’, but stressed that ‘the conduct of health checks of all persons entering the territory of Member States does not require the formal introduction of internal border controls’ and that ‘safeguards laid down in the Free Movement Directive must be guaranteed’. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52020XC0316(03)&from=FR.

2 The Maastricht Treaty (1992) foresaw the creation of a ‘European Security and Defence Identity’ within NATO, whereas the St. Malo Declaration (1998) foresaw a European security and defence policy separate from but closely aligned with NATO.

3 https://www.investigate-europe.eu/europes-new-refugee-regime/

4 Turkish EU Embassy to EU-Observer, 03-03-2020.

5 https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/society/20170627STO78419/eu-border-controls-and-managing-migration

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mette Eilstrup-Sangiovanni

Mette Eilstrup-Sangiovanni is Reader in International Relations in the Department of Politics and International Studies and a Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge.