Bilateral Migration Diplomacy in times of crisis

Abstract

In the past decade, European capitals have sought to intensify their bilateral links, from a foreign and sectoral policy perspectives and more specifically in the field of migration. While the Franco-British relationship has been increasingly politicised by the Sea Channel Crossings, or the Turkey-Greece relation in previous refugee crises, the increased policies of differentiation at EU’s borders with Switzerland, Norway or Iceland, have created opportunities to reaffirm the strength of bilateral ties between EU member states and third countries. Externalisation is necessarily an area where bilateralism has been strengthened notably with interception at sea between Italy and Libya, Spain and Morocco or between the EU and Tunisia more recently. Bilateral relations in the field of migration and in times of crisis have therefore intensified, often in informal ways and have a varied impact on the strengthening of a common migration and asylum policies at EU level. Bilateralism has often been seen as ‘embedded’ in wider structures such as the EU or multilateral foras (Krutz, 2012). But to what extent is this bilateralism playing in favour or against integration in the field of migration? At the same time is it helping to identify innovative practices in terms of crisis. Is bilateralism as explored in the field of readmission agreements (Cassarino) a way to escape European integration and to find more ad-hoc, parallel venues of cooperation? What role have bilateral cooperation in the field of migration played in the field of crisification? Is it leading to more violation of human rights?

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