THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

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THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
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particular, the EU has developed a whole array
of conventions, agreements and strategies to
tackle migration at the regional, bilateral and
multilateral level. The main aim of these agree-
ments and instruments is to channel these mi-
gratory flows and to combat the mafias, organ-
ized crime and people-trafficking that violate
people’s basic rights.
The most recent EU–Africa Summit, held in
Brussels in April 2014, stressed the importance
of migration both as a focus of discussions and
as a fundamental element of the European–
African agenda. This is clearly an issue that both
parties are keen to address and tackle together.
To coordinate this dialogue and support joint ac-
tion, the EU uses three mechanisms. Firstly, it es-
tablishes mobility partnerships, which are formal
agreements with specific countries such as
Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan, in which member
states are able to participate in specific projects.
Secondly, it develops common agendas on mo-
bility – more flexible instruments focusing on dia-
logue as is the case with Nigeria and Ethiopia.
Finally, there are specific migration dialogues,
namely the Rabat Process and the Khartoum
Process. The first of these focuses on improving
cooperation and dialogue around the West
African migration route, while the second fo-
cuses on the Horn of Africa. Both processes bring
together the countries of origin, transit and des-
tination of these regions and migration routes.
Dialogue between the two shores of the
Mediterranean: the Rabat Process
The Rabat Process1 began in July 2006 in the
Moroccan capital. During this first meeting, the
1
Rabat Declaration and the Rabat Action Plan
were approved. Subsequently, at a second
meeting in Paris in 2008, a more ambitious and
detailed Cooperation Programme was estab-
lished. At a new meeting in Dakar in November
2011, this process was developed further with
the adoption of the Strategy 2012–2014, which
evaluated implementation of the Paris
Cooperation Programme and established a set
of conclusions developed by the experts who
participated in these meetings. The parties in-
volved undertook to achieve the ten priority ob-
jectives designed to consolidate application of
the Paris Cooperation Programme as a frame-
work for cooperation and dialogue.
The Strategy 2015–2017 was presented at
the most recent meeting of the Process, in Rome
on 27 November 2014. The meeting was organ-
ized by the Presidency of the EU, supported by
the Rabat Process Support Project funded by the
European Commission and managed by the
Spanish government’s International and
Iberoamerica Foundation for Administration and
Public Policy (FIIAPP) and by the International
Centre for Migration Policy Development
(ICMPD). In recent years, the ICMPD has become
a key element in the migration dialogue that the
European Commission is seeking to promote,
and the Rabat Process is a fundamental part of
this, converting the ICMPD into a managing
agency for migration issues, with direct respon-
sibility for a number of projects, including those
relating to asylum. The ICMPD has a strong pres-
ence in central and eastern Europe, and also in-
cludes Sweden and Switzerland among its mem-
bership. However, it is surprising that a body to
which the Commission ascribes so much impor-
tance in the dialogue with the southern shore of
the Mediterranean should scarcely have any par-
ticipation by countries in the south of Europe
(with the exception of Portugal), a shortcoming