ABSTRACT
The present chapter looks at the legal status of third-country nationals under some select association, cooperation and partnership agreements signed between the EU and countries in the wider European region. These agreements were established to provide a framework for cooperation with non-EU countries so as to develop trade, social, cultural and security links. We will take one segment of the legal and policy framework, namely the extent to which the EU has granted free movement rights, labour market access and corresponding legal status to non-EU citizens under a number of association and partnership agreements. Our contention is that the ‘human dimension’ of the external policy aspirations of the EU can be detected in the agreements and policy instruments that the EU defines with regard to its negotiating partners. The chapter aims to highlight the rights given to migrants and their family members based on the agreement and within the external conduct of the EU with regard a specific country or region. As will be seen, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has had a tremendous role in clarifying and often expanding the legal status of said third-country nationals. At the outset, one assumes that the strength of external ties lays predominantly on economic interest in which the EU has a clear leverage during the negotiations. Does this leverage offer an upper hand to decide what rights foreign migrant workers enjoy once they are lawfully residing within the territory of the EU? Is it possible to detect more emphasis on trade advantages rather than on the promotion of economic migration and the ‘human dimension’ within the relation?
