External Financial Governance: Solidarity and Externalisation of Migration Control through EU Funding

Abstract

The European Union is increasingly coopting third states in efforts to manage migration. While this phenomenon is not new, it has intensified, quantitively and qualitatively, in the wake of the ‘refugee crisis’. Quantitatively, the EU has broadened its focus from its immediate neighbourhood and has started targeting countries further along the chain of transit, such as Chad and Niger. Qualitatively, we have witnessed a shift in the deterrence paradigm from the mere prevention of spontaneous arrivals and deflection of flows to other destinations to hindering exit of ‘risky’ migrants from third states that scholars have conceptualised as ‘contactless control’ practices. This is made possible through the outsourcing of pre-emptive migration control beyond the EU’s physical borders. This emphasis on pre-emption and third country cooperation is combined with a renewed impetus to control and deflect migrants who manage to reach EU’s borders. This panel brings together scholars to provide a better understanding of external financial governance and its implications on EU migration control. The contributions address the following aspects of migration governance through funding: Investigating the theoretical and normative foundations underpinning the externalization of migration control, especially through financial instruments. Analysing the influence of legal and policy design, management processes, and control mechanisms of EU funding instruments on incentivizing compliance with EU policy objectives. Scrutinizing the mechanisms ensuring transparency and accountability in outsourcing arrangements and the disbursement of EU funding for migration control. Assessing whether the aims, volume, distribution, and administrative governance of EU funding align with the principles of responsibility sharing. Investigating the impact of externalization through funding on refugee protection, fundamental rights, and the rule of law, with a focus on oversight and accountability mechanisms.

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