ABSTRACT
Mobility Partnerships (MPs) are being presented at EU official level as a key tool for the European immigration policy towards third countries, in particular concerning the integration of labour mobility regimes into the EU external relations (the external dimensions of EU labour immigration policy). Three MPs have been launched so far, two with Moldova and Cape Verde in May 2008, and one with Georgia in November 2009. The European Commission published a preliminary evaluation of the MPs’ pilot phase with Moldova and Cape Verde in September 2009, in which it qualified them as ‘the most innovative and sophisticated tool to date of the Global Approach to Migration’ (European Commission 2009: 4). MPs constitute soft law/policy joint declarations negotiated between the Commission – based on political guidelines from the Council and on behalf of a group of interested EU Member States – and a third country, under the condition that the latter shows a strong commitment to cooperating with the EU on the management of irregular migration, especially readmission agreements 2 and border security. The official political goal of MPs appears to be to move beyond traditional EU policy priorities centred on security concerns associated with irregular migration and border controls. Instead, the priority now seems to be on creating a common transnational framework for cooperation on labour migration, including ‘circular migration’ schemes, allowing for a ‘triple win’ for Member States, the third country and the nationals thereof.
