title: How addressing divisions on African migration inside the EU can strengthen transnational development
Creators: name: Schöfberger, Irene
Publisher: name: German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/01t3zke88
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2018
Subjects: subject: Flucht
subject: Migration
subject: Governance
subject: Afrika
subject: Europäische Union
subject: Forced displacement
subject: Migration
subject: Governance
subject: European Union
subject: Africa

description: Intense negotiations about migration management policies are taking place inside the
 European Union (EU), and between the EU and African states. Although these two negotiation
 processes are often analysed separately, they are actually interlinked. Drawing on
 interviews with representatives of European and African states and regional organisations
 as well as on policy analysis, this Briefing Paper argues that negotiations inside the EU
 restrict EU-Africa cooperation on migration in two ways: first, by transmitting a
 strengthened focus on border control from the internal to the external dimension of EU
 migration management policies; second, by framing migration in a narrow way, which has
 hindered progress with regard to transnational development. <br> Intra-EU policy
 negotiations on migration are essential for the evolvement of EU-Africa cooperation on
 migration. Their increasing focus on border controls in Europe and Africa hinders the
 adoption of policies that support the potential of migration to contribute towards
 transnational resilience and development. Therefore, addressing the divisions on the
 internal dimension of EU migration management policy is a prerequisite for identifying
 sustainable EU-Africa cooperation pathways and supporting African migrants as actors of
 transnational development. <br> There are two important lessons that the Commission and
 the member states can learn from their difficulties in reaching an internal agreement on
 how to manage migration inside and outside the EU. The first lesson is that they need to
 address the challenge of balancing European national and transnational competencies and
 approaches. This challenge is inherent to the EU being a transnational union of nation
 states. The second lesson is that they need to take into greater consideration the needs
 of vulnerable citizens of both European and African countries. <br> In particular, the EU
 and its member states should: 
 

 
 Focus on the internal dimension of migration management and rebalance the current
 distribution of national and EU transnational competencies on migration. This is
 needed to address the conflicts of competencies that are currently hindering the
 negotiations on common policies. In particular, they should explore the feasibility
 of transferring some national competencies to the EU, including through the creation
 of a pilot EU Agency on Labour Migration.
 

 Introduce effective mechanisms of transnational responsibility-sharing in the EU in
 order to safeguard free movement within the Schengen Area. In particular, they should
 foresee an EU relocation system based on incentives and sanctions as part of a reform of
 the Dublin Regulation.

 Take the needs of young and low-skilled workers as well as migrant European workers
 into greater consideration by promoting employment, job security and labour rights, with
 funding through the European Social Fund.

 
 Reintroduce policy and development cooperation measures supporting the potential of
 African migration to contribute towards transnational resilience and development and
 provide adequate funding through the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027. In
 particular, such measures should support self-determined strategies of African migrants,
 for example by facilitating circular mobility and the transfer of remittances.
description: Briefing Paper, 22/2018