Labour market performance and migration flows - European ...

Chapter IIIEU Migration Policy towards Arab Mediterranean Countries and its Impact on their Labour MarketsThis section will not evaluate the success of the Euro-Med partnership as a co-development project.Suffice it to say that scholarly work has already addressed this aspect. 195 Nevertheless, it should bestressed that a consensus has emerged on the weakness of the democratization process, as well asof the human dimension of the Partnership. More specifically, external political factors haveundermined this process. 196Despite the enlightened and ambitious goals of the Barcelona Declaration regarding the building ofbridges across the Mediterranean, no concrete measures regarding mobility of people are providedfor in the EMAAs.3.1.2 The Euro-Med Association agreements (EMAA) and MigrationIn this section, we will further explore the EMAA’s content. This will substantiate our statementregarding the absence of dynamic objectives for human mobility in the EMAA, and will give us theopportunity to show how each EMAA has a somewhat different approach towards migration.Indeed, some provisions of the EMAA concluded with the Maghreb countries (Morocco, Algeria,Tunisia) reflect the peculiar relations that these countries have with European countries with regardto migration. The most recently concluded EMAAs, meanwhile, give, as we have alreadymentioned, more emphasis to the need for cooperation in the field of “illegal” migration but remainsilent on a comprehensive approach to migration.Beyond that, the Euro-Med framework provides for a privileged institutional framework in whichdialogue on migration may be conducted at various political levels. This institutional frameworkhas also provided the channels through which the ENP has progressively been implemented since2003.The EMAA dealt with migration issues under Chapters dedicated to “cooperation in social andcultural matters”. In those chapters, some specific provisions related to migration are set out. 197The first important point to make is that, contrary to the expectations raised by the BarcelonaDeclaration regarding the establishment of a full-fledged Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area, thefree movement of workers is not enabled by any of the Association Agreements.In the following subsections, we will deal with specific provisions regarding migration (a), andgive an overview of the institutional mechanisms through which the social dialogue regardingmigration is supposed to take place (b).a) Substantial provisionsCooperation in the field of illegal immigration is seen as part of the partnership in only three of theEMAAs: with Algeria, 198 Egypt 199 and Lebanon. 200 It is important to note that all those that were195 See i.e. A. MARCHETTI (ed.), “Ten Years Euro-Med Partnership – Defining European Interests for the next decade”, ZEI, Discussion Paper, C154, 2005; J. BRACH, “The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership: The Role and Impact of the Economic and Financial Dimension”, European Foreign Affairs Review, n°12, pp. 555-579, 2007; G. AUBARELL, G., and X.ARAGALL, “Immigration and the Euro-Mediterranean Area: Keys to Policy and Trends, EuroMescoPapers, n°47, September 2005; MARTÍN, I. “In Search of Development Along theSouthern Border. The Economic Models Underlying the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership and the European Neighborhood Policy”, in Anna Maria Ferragina (ed.), Bridging the Gap: TheRole of Trade and FDI in the Mediterranean, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche-Instituto di Studi sulle Società del Mediterraneo, 2009.196 Terrorism and the fear that the changing elite would provoke a rise in Islamic political parties, and the breakdown of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, L. KUHNHARDT, “10 YearsEuro-Mediterranean Partnership – The Human Dimension Revisited”, ZEI, Discussion Paper, C154, 2005.197 For an exhaustive overview of those provisions, please refer to the tables in the Appendix. Here when we do not refer to one of the EMAAs in particular we make use the EC/TunisiaAssociation Agreement provisions, which was the first to be signed and served as a model for the negotiation of the others.198 Title VIII Cooperation in the field of Justice and Home Affairs – Cooperation for prevention and control of illegal immigration article 84.199 See Title VI Cooperation for prevention and control of illegal immigration (art. 68-70).200 See Title VI Chapter 3 Cooperation for prevention and control of illegal immigration (art. 68-69).189