Imke Kruse

EC Visa Facilitation and Readmission Agreements: Implementing a New EU Security Approach in the Neighbourhood

With the Eastern Enlargement successfully completed, the EU is searching for a proper balance between internal security and external stabilisation that is acceptable to all sides. This paper focuses on an EU foreign policy instrument that is a case in point for this struggle: EC visa facilitation and readmission agreements. By looking at the EUs strategy on visa facilitation and readmission, this paper aims to offer a first systematic analysis of the objectives, substance and political implications of these agreements. The analysis considers the instrument of EC visa facilitation and readmission agreements as a means to implement a new EU security approach in the neighbourhood. In offering more relaxed travel conditions in exchange for the signing of an EC readmission agreement and reforming domestic justice and home affairs, the EU has found a new way to press for reforms in neighbouring countries while addressing a major source of discontent in these countries. The analysis concludes with the broader implications of these agreements and argues that even if the facilitated travel opportunities are beneficial for the citizens of the target countries, the positive achievements are undermined by the Schengen enlargement, which makes the new member states tie up their borders to those of their neighbours.

EU Readmission Policy and Its Effects on Transit Countries: The Case of Albania

In 2002, the Commission reported that of the thirteen million refugees world-wide only 15 percent resided on EU territory and that over the last decade the number of asylum seekers arriving in the EU had halved.1 Nevertheless, the political debates in EU Member States as well as on EU level have become increasingly dominated by the perception of the continent being “overwhelmed” by immigrants. Currently, it seems much easier for Member States to agree upon exclusionary measures like harsher border controls, return policies, visa requirements and carrier sanctions than on issues concerning refugee protection and the creation of a common asylum system. Between 1999 and 2001, the European Commission adopted a set of proposals concerning legal immigration, refugee protection and the creation of a common European asylum system. However, Member States strongly resisted most of these proposals and achieved substantial revisions and tightening before finally adopting some of them, and only under high time pressure. Meanwhile, since 2001 the Commission has turned substantial parts of attention to illegal migration, and discussions on migration and asylum became publicly interlinked with questions of internal security and terrorism. Already in 1998 the Austrian Presidency had stated:

The failure of immigration reform in Germany

After many years without substantial activity in immigration policy, the German Red–Green government which came to power in 1998 introduced an American-style Green Card and a new citizenship law. From these beginnings, the immigration reform campaign captured the public imagination, and for two years a broad spectrum of figures from German public life took part in a lively debate on the issue. A law was eventually adopted by parliament and promulgated in spring 2002, but – in the wake of a voting scandal in the Bundesrat – it was struck down by the Federal Constitutional Court weeks before its scheduled entry into force. This report recounts the story of the now defunct immigration law and seeks to shed valuable light on German politics by analysing what the key differences were that divided the main political parties.

Driven from the Outside: the EU’s Impact on Albanian Immigration and Asylum Policies

Transnational interdependence has increased since the 1970s, bringing with it new challenges to the problem-solving capacities of nation states. In response to the dilemma of diminished capacity at the national level, some domestic policy fields have been at least partially transferred to supranational responsibility (see, for example, Scharpf 1997; Zurn 2000). One such issue area is migration. During recent years, EU member states have realized that they were no longer able to deal adequately with the phenomenon of international migration on the domestic level and instead needed to combine their efforts regarding immigration and asylum policies on the European level. But in transferring domestic policy fields to the EU, they have simply pushed policy challenges up to the supranational level. Indeed, in the face of the very same problems, the EU itself has only limited capacity to act because it depends on the cooperation of neighbouring countries. This is most obvious in issues related to border control, immigration restrictions and return of illegal migrants. The process of European integration and demarcation of effective borders has thus created a paradox: those countries included in the EU depend on the cooperation of those excluded.

Irreguläre Wanderungen und internationale Politik

Irregulare Wanderungen nehmen weltweit zu, und in vielen Staaten dominiert das Thema mittlerweile die migrations- und asylpolitische Debatte. Es ist allerdings in erster Linie ein Thema der wirtschaftlich besser entwickelten Staaten, und zwar insbesondere derjenigen, die uber ein groszugiges System der sozialen Sicherung und einen reglementierten Arbeitsmarkt verfugen. Dabei werden irregulare Einwanderer meist ausschlieslich als Problem der inneren Sicherheit wahrgenommen, selten dreht sich die Debatte um die Ursachen der Wanderung oder um das Schicksal der Menschen. Kaum jemand versetzt sich in ihre Lage und versucht zu verstehen, welche Zwange zum Verlassen des Heimatlandes gefuhrt haben, oder wie gros ihre Hoffnung ist, im Zielland ein besseres und sichereres Leben zu finden — selbst um den Preis der Irregularitat. Es wird auch selten thematisiert, dass irregulare Einwanderer in der Regel keine Rechte besitzen und haufig der Willkur von Arbeitgebern und Behorden ausgeliefert sind.

Immigration Reform in Germany

When the Red-Green government came to power in 1998, a thorough modernization of Germany’s migration policy was central to its platform. Very quickly, the government introduced a U.S.-style Green Card and a new citizenship law. From these beginnings, the immigration reform campaign captured the public imagination, and for two years a broad spectrum of figures from German public life took part in a lively debate on the issue. A law was eventually adopted by parliament and promulgated in spring 2002, but it was struck down by the Federal Constitutional Court weeks before its scheduled entry into force. A second legislative round finally resulted in a compromise on the immigration law in 2004.