“European Integration and Migration Policy: The Implications of Vertical Policymaking”

Guiraudon, Virginie. (1999) “European Integration and Migration Policy: The Implications of Vertical Policymaking” . In European Union Studies Association (EUSA) > Biennial Conference > 1999 (6th), June 2-5, 1999, pages 48, Pittsburgh, PA.

Abstract

Since the beginning of the 1980s, migration and asylum policy in Europe is increasingly elaborated in supranational forums and implemented by transnational actors. I argue that a venue-shopping framework is best suited to account for the timing, form, and content of European cooperation in this area. The venues less amenable to restrictive migration control policy are national high courts, other ministries and migrant-aid organisations. Building upon pre-existing policy settings and developing new policy frames, law and order officials circumvented national constraints in largely intergovernmental and secretive forums with EU institutions playing a minor role. In this fashion, they avoided judicial scrutiny, eliminated other national adversaries and enlisted the help of transnational actors such as transit countries and carriers.