Conclusions

There has been extensive media coverage of shipwrecks in the Mediterranean resulting in mass killings of migrants on their way to the EU. ¹ Migrants have been filmed ‘attacking’ the fences surrounding Ceuta and Melilla. ² There are reports of others switching tactics and using land, rather than sea borders to cross from Turkey into the EU, as Frontex operations are becoming stricter in the Aegean Sea. ³ The endless endeavour to stop irregular entry into the EU has resulted in the outsourcing of EU border security regimes into regions peripheral to the EU, especially in the Mediterranean basin. Increasing research has focused on technical investments to stop irregular border crossings in the Mediterranean and on the role played by smuggler networks (FRA 2013). The high death toll among migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean into the EU in the last decades (Brian and Laczko 2014), is a direct result of the fight against irregular migration by the EU. ⁴ Tens of thousands migrants fleeing conflict situations in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and other countries were allowed to travel along the Balkan route to reach destinations in Western Europe. Reportedly, nearly a million people crossed during a short period in 2015 before the borders were closed down and securitized again.