Crisis, Change and Continuity: The Role of the European Parliament in EU External Migration Policy

This paper examines the role of the European Parliament in the governance of EU external migration policy, and in particular in the new instruments developed in the aftermath of the 2015-2016 ‘migration crisis’. The ‘crisis’ can be seen as a type of critical juncture, and new tools for cooperating with non-EU countries have emerged as a result; e.g. the European Commission has described the EU-Turkey deal as “unprecedented”. The paper questions the extent to which these new instruments represent a shift in the institutional dynamics of EU external migration policy; it thereby seeks to contribute to the nascent literature on the effects of the ‘migration crisis’ on EU governance. Previous literature has shown that the European Parliament has only been able to play a very limited role in EU external migration policy, being limited by the treaties to approving readmission and visa facilitation agreements. The role of the European Parliament is important in terms of both policy process and policy content. In terms of policy process, it raises questions about the democratic legitimacy and accountability of EU external migration policy, a policy area that connects two sensitive and salient policies: migration policy and foreign policy. In terms of policy content, NGOs have long criticised the human rights implications of EU external migration policy (predating the ‘migration crisis’). The European Parliament is presumed in the literature to be a promotor of human rights, although some authors point out that the real picture is more nuanced (e.g. Lopatin, 2013, shows that the European Parliament has increasingly voted with the member states in the Council in favour of more restrictive measures on irregular migration and asylum). Variance in the role of the European Parliament in the policy-making process might therefore be linked to different types of policy content. The paper maps the role of the European Parliament in the main externalised policy responses to the ‘migration crisis’: the European Agenda on Migration; the Valletta summit; the EU-Turkey deal; and the Migration Partnership Framework. It compares this to the past role of the European Parliament in EU external migration policy, in order to show whether institutional dynamics are changing or stagnant.