Learning to talk, talking about learning: migration discourse in Euro-Mediterranean relations

Migration is a crowded discursive space in Euro–Mediterranean relations. Among the narratives that circulate in this field, the language of learning has taken on a prominent role. Policymakers increasingly frame migration initiatives in terms of the knowledge they generate and the lessons they claim to apply from past crises and earlier phases of cooperation. This article traces how the meaning and function of “learning” have evolved across nearly three decades of Euro–Mediterranean migration discourse, and how this evolution shaped the governance of migration in the region. Drawing on policy learning theory, discourse analysis, and scholarship on knowledge utilisation, we conceptualise discourse as a technology of learning that performs three roles: encoding lessons from past experience; triggering learning by framing problems and coordinating expectations under uncertainty; and simulating learning by projecting responsiveness and legitimacy. Our corpus comprises more than 300 speeches, as well as strategic and operational documents spanning the Barcelona Process, the European Neighbourhood Policy, and the post-2011 Agenda for the Mediterranean through to the recent Pact for the Mediterranean. We identify learning markers, examine what is claimed to have been learned, and analyse the functions these claims serve. The findings reveal a gradual but significant shift that expands current studies on Euro-Mediterranean migration governance. In the mid-1990s, learning centred on developing a shared language: EU institutions and Southern Mediterranean partners engaged in exploratory dialogue focused on mutual familiarisation and the basic contours of migration cooperation. With the launch of the ENP, this exploratory mode was replaced by a more hierarchical and technocratic understanding of learning. Drawing from its enlargement experience, the EU increasingly defined learning through monitoring, evaluation, and benchmarking. After the Arab uprisings, EU officials publicly framed the moment as one of moral reflection, yet the practical locus of learning moved into instruments and funding streams. Mechanisms such as the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa turned projects, indicators, and audits into the primary evidence that the EU was “learning,” reinforcing a more operational and performance-oriented narrative.