The EU and Global Migration Governance: Window Dressing or Effective Partnership?

This article examines and critiques the role of the EU in enhancing access to protection and labour mobility opportunities through the two recent, non-legally binding, Global Compacts on Migration and on Refugees. It adopts a principled understanding of effectiveness in the framework of migration governance, drawing from migration studies, international relations and public policy theories. It analyses, from legal and policy design perspectives, the set-up of the UN Global Compacts, critiquing how this might impact their effectiveness. The research next ascertains the role of the EU and its member states in implementing key cooperative mechanisms established through the Global Compacts, such as the Global Refugee Forum. It draws from original qualitative empirical data through semi-structured interviews conducted in Geneva and Brussels. The combined legal and empirical analysis allows for fine-grained comments including on evolution in the EU’s migration policies and their interaction with the Global Compacts.