Informalization and migration policies: a perennial future?

The dynamics of power between the EU and third countries that emit emigrants have been affected by the response given to the migration crisis that began in 2015. Within the broad phenomenon of externalization of migration policies, the dynamics by which funds are allocated can be framed Europeans to countries of origin of migration so that you control their borders and also keep migrants only as far away as possible from European borders. Towards the African continent, many of these activities have been funded through the Emergency Trust Fund for Africa. This fund suffers from its own structural problems and its adaptation to development policy (a policy shared between the EU and the states in which it is framed. The Fund is one more example of the outsourcing policy linked to migration conditions and of the European tendency to link any foreign policy to migration control objectives. For this same control, other tools are also used, such as the informalization of agreements with third states. Especially the latter, in terms of readmission, are highly worrisome since the turn towards informalization, the delegation of the process, can give rise to great problems of judgment, legality, scrutiny and democracy control. These instruments have often been described as inefficient as they do not take into account the interests of the partner countries and do not achieve the objectives set, especially if they are of a non-binding nature. In order to analyze the alignment with certain legal limits within the EU system, this paper will try to answer the following questions: Do the projects financed through the EUTF comply with the basic principles of this type of Funds? Through informal agreements, are the principles of EU respected, especially the institutional balance and the powers of the European Parliament? If, as it seems, the trend to follow is the path of informal agreements and the linking of other policies to migration concerns, how is this covered by the new political orientation (New Pact on Migration and Asylum)? Are these practices institutionalized and legalized or do they continue to be promoted as actions on the margins? This paper also points the extent to which the application of the European migration policy outside the territory through the funds and, through the conclusion of these agreements, actually generates the objectives that will be someone, that is, to deal with the deep causes of migration, reduce the number of illegal arrivals, increase return rates and make the route to the euro less dangerous, favoring the legal movement. In short, it seeks to analyze from a legal site point of view what are the limits to this type of practices and tools used to deal with migration. In the same way, it seeks to conclude if the political framework proposed for the coming years chronifies, incorporates and changes the model.