External Solidarity in Integrated Border Management: The Role of EU Migration Agencies

Abstract

This chapter sheds light on the rather neglected external dimension of European Union (EU) migration agencies, in particular, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) and the EU Agency for Asylum that succeeded to and replaced the European Asylum Support Office (EASO). The chapter describes the normative and practical manifestations of solidarity in the external dimension of EU migration management (external solidarity), examining its embodiment in the work of the two agencies. It offers a thorough reflection on the consequences of this understanding of external solidarity from the perspective of the migrants and concludes that even though solidarity is a normative ideal, this does not absolve the concept of human rights risks. Activities, such as those examined in this chapter, which appear as the operationalisation of genuine solidarity, in fact, exacerbate existing risks for the compliance of the EU with its human rights obligations. Accordingly, the chapter upholds its normative conclusions by arguing that accountability should be part of the implementation of solidary also in its external dimension.