EU-Neighbourhood Cross-border Cooperation: Fostering Border Management as a Condition for Increased Mobility
EU-Neighbourhood Cross-border Cooperation: Fostering Border Management as a Condition for Increased Mobility

Summary/Abstract: Despite the absence of a common border service at the EU level, the EU has developed a border policy towards the Eastern Neighbourhood, including Russia, and has set out an agenda for cooperation in the field with the Southern Mediterranean countries. This article analyses empirically the EU cross-border cooperation with the Neighbourhood and it assesses it within the wider JLS policies such as the visa liberalisation process and Mobility Partnerships. In addition, it aims at contributing to scholarly work in this field as much more attention has been given to date to other migration-related policy areas such as readmission. The most substantial outcomes of EU cross-border cooperation are in border management with the signature of FRONTEX Working Arrangements and, in the specific case of Ukraine and Moldova, the border management activity of the EUBAM Mission. The article shows that border management has consisted mainly in the modernisation and provision of equipment at the borders, as well as capacity-building. In addition, it has sketched the bilateral agreements signed between EU Member States and the Neighbourhood on local border traffic, as well as the state of play of border demarcation agreements. Finally, it shows how cooperation on border management is conditional to progress in the context of the Schengen visa liberalisation process or the Mobility Partnerships.

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