Implementation dynamics in EU ‘Mobility’ Partnerships

Reslow, Natasja (2015) Implementation dynamics in EU ‘Mobility’ Partnerships. [Conference Proceedings] (Submitted)

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Abstract

This paper contributes to the very limited literature on the implementation of EU external migration policy. Cooperation with non-EU countries has become a central policy priority for the EU over the past decade, with the main policy tool being the Mobility Partnership framework. Since 2008, seven such partnerships have been signed with countries in the EU’s neighbourhood. Since the Commission’s 2009 evaluation, however, little has been written about how the Mobility Partnerships are playing out in practice. This paper addresses this deficit, and focuses in particular on the concept of mobility. It first attempts to assess the whether the Mobility Partnerships have created extra channels of migration from the non-EU countries concerned to the EU. However, the paper concludes that implementation is still at too early a stage, and no sound conclusion can be drawn regarding the overall contribution of the Mobility Partnerships to mobility. Instead, the paper applies the literature on implementation in a ‘backward’ fashion: starting with the implementation dynamics at play, it concludes that successful implementation of the Mobility Partnerships will depend on the particular third country and project concerned.

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