Tackling Root Causes? EU Aid and Governance to Control Migration

After launching the European Agenda on Migration in May 2015 in response to the European refugee ‘crisis’, the European Union (EU) is now intensifying the external dimensions of its migration policy. Central to this is an increased reliance on aid to fund agreements with third countries of transit and origin and entrench a ‘more for more’ approach to stem the migration flows towards the EU. The 2016 Migration Partnership Framework and the agreements (‘compacts’) that it promotes are just two key examples of the ongoing push to externalise migration at the core of current EU policies. These ‘compacts’ aim at prompt cooperation on expulsion and readmission of irregular migrants to countries of origin or transit, in exchange for development aid and technical cooperation on border management. Such initiatives and agreements raise various concerns, both in terms of their compatibility with existing obligations of international protection and in terms of international and EU standards for development and humanitarian aid. This workshop aims to bring together scholars, non-governmental organisations, policy and lawmakers to discuss the nexus between EU development policies and EU migration policies, and their broader legal and political implications.