The European Union's Externalisation Policy in the Field of Migration and Asylum: Turkey as a Case Study

This report is part of the RESPOND Project’s Work Package 6 (WP6), titled ‘Conflicting Europeanisation’, which focuses on the internal and external dynamics of the European Union’s (EU) migration and asylum policy. In this framework, WP6 examines how the recent migration crisis has affected the future of European integration. It analyses the main parameters of divergence in migration governance and explores how these could impinge on the future course that EU integration takes. The report notes that migration and asylum policy have risen to the top of the EU’s externalisation agenda. It is also contextually linked to the broader institutionalisation of the EU, becoming a state-like system with the intention to demarcate clear external borders, as well as a sharper distinction between the domestic and foreign policy fields. Differentiated integration comes into play as a compromise method to balance the Member States’ differentiated national interests and preferences. The report proceeds as follows: First, it provides a brief discussion on the conceptual part. It reviews the main instruments for the cooperation with third countries adopted by the EU to tackle the multiple dimensions of the migration phenomenon and control. Then, it focuses on Turkey as a case study for examining the usage of the external form of differentiated and wraps this up by linking the whole discussion with the Europeanisation debate. Finally, the conclusion contributes to the debate on the configuration and impact of EU cooperation with third countries in migration and proposes a set of concrete recommendations for further action