From security to development : migration contribution to Euro-Mediterranean cooperation

Abstract

In the current European Union (EU) debate on migration despite the positive linkage between Migration and Development gaining momentum, emphasis is still greater on how to guarantee borders security and curb irregular migration. This is possibly due also to the lack of concrete indications on how to operationalise the linkage between Migration and Development on the one hand, and to the existing discrepancies between some individual Member States' political agendas and the attempts of the European Commission (EC) to set a framework promoting development-friendly migration, on the other. Concrete recommendations on how to enhance Migration and Development linkages have been put forward in recent key EC/EU communications, yet they are vaguely presented because of the lack of a comprehensive analytical framework linking the various elements. The present article attempts to fill the existing gap between theories and practice by proposing the path towards a more comprehensive analytical framework that takes into account the intertwining of the internal resources (i.e. migrants' financial, human, social and symbolic capital) and external - the social, political, economic and cultural environment in which these resources can be created and mobilised. The paper is organised in four sections: an introduction presenting the evolution in the Migration and Development policy and recommendations at EC/EU level, a second section presenting a resource-based approach to Migration and Development, a third section on the migration trends in the Euro-Mediterranean region and the concrete utilisation of migrants' resources and a final section concluding and highlighting the potential for regional co-operation in creating, enhancing and mobilising migrants' resources .