"The Unbearable Lightness of Complying with European Immigration Policies? Germany’s First Mover Advantage"

Ette, Andreas. and Kreienbrink, Axel. (2007) "The Unbearable Lightness of Complying with European Immigration Policies? Germany’s First Mover Advantage". In: UNSPECIFIED, Montreal, Canada. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

The last decade has seen an increasing interest on the domestic repercussions of the European Union polity, politics and policies on its member states. Despite the fact that Justice and Home Affairs in general and immigration policies in particular have become the most expansive and rapidly developing EU policy in the post-Amsterdam era, only little attention has been directed to the Europeanization of member states policies in this area. To address this shortcoming the paper analyses the implementation and compliance of member states with European immigration policies. Focusing in particular on Germany and the national implementation of the European policy on detention and removal of illegally staying immigrants, the paper demonstrates Germany’s overall good record of compliance transposing European measures into national legislation. Furthermore, a clear quantitative imbalance between different European modes of governance emerges, with propositions focusing on the operation of policies far exceeding measures aiming at the harmonization of legal norms. The European policies adopted so far help to complement the already existing national policies, increase their efficiency and support bordercrossing cooperation. Regulations addressing the harmonization of legal norms, however, are opposed and member states show little interest for more far-reaching common European regulatory policies. The lightness of complying becomes unbearable in a sense that consequentialist thinking and the logic of intergovernmental cooperation still dominate this policy area. Nevertheless, the European integration of immigration policies and its first mover strategy is a German success story because the costs have been minimal but the benefits Germany reaped by influencing the immigration policies of its neighbouring countries by making the detour over Brussels are likely to be substantial. It will be the task for future analysis to address the compliance of other member states with this new European policy in greater detail.

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