Valori, principi e obiettivi della dimensione esterna della politica migratoria dell'Unione europea

This study assesses European Union (EU) values, principles and objectives – in specie solidarity and human rights - on promoting control and the managing of migration flows. The EU external immigration policy is becoming increasingly coherent. However, it is argued that there is still a need for a more integrated approach, because implementation and enforcement of current initiatives should be enhanced. In light of recent increases in immigration towards and across the EU countries, steps towards building a common EU approach to immigration are often more concerned with limiting immigration and to putting limitations on who may enter, without adopting common solutions to common challenges. The analysis shows that, while in an earlier phase of the process towards the Europeanization of migration policies the naval operations in the Mediterranean sea found their roots in a unilateral operation characterized by a fundamentally humanitarian purposes (the Italian Mare Nostrum operation), they have later evolved in a EU mission (Triton) mostly aimed at controlling the EU’s boundaries at sea, with the recently launched EUNAVFOR MED operation representing a stiffening of this defensive approach. Some critical considerations are also proposed with regard to the effectiveness and efficiency of the measures adopted by the Members of the EU to date, which the European countries approved with difficulty and discordantly, in clear contrast with the principles of solidarity and the protection of human rights, which are at the foundation of the Treaty of Lisbon.