Of policy failures, or of the limits border control by proxy in EU external migration governance: the case of Tunisia

In recent years, the EU has relied heavily on third countries to manage migration flows and control borders on its behalf, a strategy that has grown more prominent over time. As a significant country of origin and a transit point for Sub-Saharan migrants, Tunisia has recently emerged as a key actor in the EU's migration governance framework. The EU-Tunisia Memorandum of Understanding signed in July 2023 and establishing cooperation on border control and fight against irregular migration is a case in point. By focusing on Tunisia, this paper aims to critically investigate the EU’s reliance on third countries and their role in EU external migration governance. It argues that, while the new EU-Tunisia agreement reiterates the EU paradigm of border control by proxy, it is predicated on the flawed assumption that countries of origin and transit can seamlessly adopt the role of border managers for the EU. The Tunisian case, however, demonstrates that they are far from being mere passive proxies, but challengers contesting EU migration governance strategies. Moreover, while the agreement aims to transform Tunisia in a space of containment, it ignores the complexity of structural conditions on the ground, where a complex interplay of economic drivers, climate change, and controversial domestic policies expose the inadequacy of border control to cope with the complexity of the phenomenon.