The EU and the Symbolic, Territorial, and Institutional Organization of the Mediterranean as a Global Mobile Space: Moroccan Students’ Perspectives

2018 ◽  
pp. 27-34
Author(s):  
Maria Paradiso ◽  
Sabrina Favaro
2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-58
Author(s):  
Mohamed Chamekh

This article explores illegal migration through Tunisian rap. It considers this music an aspect of resistance and protest against the socio-economic and political conditions obliging thousands of Tunisians to cross the Mediterranean in makeshift boats in search of better prospects and challenging the increasing security and legislative measures crippling mobility imposed by the EU and Tunisian authorities. This article contends that harga songs document the history of the working class in Tunisia and carve the identity of harraga as people who have been marginalised for generations. It concludes that EU-Tunisia security talks and dialogues remain ineffective as long as the root causes of illegal migration have not been addressed. Keywords: illegal migration, Tunisian rap, resistance, marginalization, security, immobility, identity


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 617-629
Author(s):  
C Anguita Olmedo ◽  
P González Gómez del Miño

The European Union (EU) throughout its history has been the destination of diverse migratory flows. Therefore, migration has acquired special relevance by occupying a prominent position on the EU’s political, economic, cultural, and social agenda. The most recent migration crisis of 2015 represents a multidimensional challenge with severe consequences that affect, first, the institutional foundations of the EU (governance, security, solidarity of member states and institutional stability) and, second, the migratory policies of receiving states and the EU itself. This crisis is characterized, first, by the high number of illegal migrants that cross the Mediterranean, and, second, by the humanitarian tragedy and insecurity, which make the sea a grey area and an international reference in the migratory processes. The migration-security equation became a field of applied research and analysis, and at the same time a focus of political debate and public opinion. The article aims at analysing the crisis of 2015 and its consequences, which is done by means of the methodological approach based on the consequences that this phenomenon entails for the EU and for certain member states. The response of the EU is limited primarily to securitization by strengthening the external borders, turning towards internal security rather than respecting international and Community Treaties and promotion of their values, which contradicts the anticipated leadership of this global actor. The authors believe that it is necessary to implement new mechanisms in addition to ensuring greater effectiveness of the existing ones.


2019 ◽  
pp. 121-150
Author(s):  
Ċetta Mainwaring

The fifth chapter analyses how in the EU context Malta constructed a crisis around the issue of migration, and how the small state exploited the crisis to secure more EU funds and support. It thus focuses on how member states on the periphery respond to the new responsibility they face as EU migration gatekeepers. In this way, the chapter continues to explore the theme of power at the margins but moves away from the migrant experience to that of a small state at the edge of Europe. The chapter analyses Malta’s strategies at the EU level and its lobbying around particular policies between 2008 and 2016, including (1) the European Pact on Immigration and Asylum, (2) the Schengen Borders Code, (3) the Dublin Regulation, and (4) the Long-Term Residents Directive. The research demonstrates how Malta exerted an unexpected level of influence on EU migration governance by adopting a number of strategies, including emphasizing its small state status, its gatekeeper role, and the ‘crisis’. The most significant success was the expansion of the concept of solidarity within the EU to not only include financial transfers but also the relocation of people. However, this success has come at a price: Malta’s construction and exploitation of a migration crisis reinforces the very emphasis on migration control at the external border that it has resisted. Indeed, the EU framework now shapes Malta’s interests and strategies, encouraging the construction of migration crisis in the Mediterranean and the reduction of migrants to symbols of suffering and disorder.


Subject Migration patterns and dynamics. Significance Tens of thousands of migrants and refugees from Africa and elsewhere attempt to cross the Mediterranean from Libya to Europe each year, travelling on overcrowded and flimsy boats controlled by people smugglers. The flow of people poses humanitarian and political challenges for the EU and Libya's closest European neighbour, Italy. Impacts Libya will remain a major destination for migrant workers, despite current economic performance. A new political or security deterioration in Libya could trigger a small increase in migrant flows to Italy. Libyan border management will remain weak, despite initiatives such as the EU Border Assistance Mission.


Significance The EU is still struggling to formulate a coordinated response to the migration crisis, but it has managed to make significant cuts in illegal immigration by tightening control of its external borders and reducing the number of irregular crossings of the Mediterranean. Impacts An EU-Africa summit in November will review measures to prevent people from trying to come to Europe in the first place. The number of people crossing the Mediterranean has fallen, but for each individual attempting the journey the risk of dying has increased. The sense of being abandoned by other EU countries could boost Euroscepticism in the run-up to next year’s election in Italy. Conflicts over migration policy are likely to deepen the east-west divide within the EU.


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