The Externalization of the EU's Policy on Irregular Immigration - Vertical and Horizontal Venue-Shopping?

Abstract: The topic of this thesis is the EU's policy on irregular immigration. At the centre of the inquiry is the externally-oriented and externalizing approach to irregular immigration that has been adopted in the EU and the predominant use of external measures in the EU's policy to deal with irregular immigration at the cost of internal and protective measures. The EU's policy is questioned as the external measures that the EU has adopted are shown to be both ineffective in actually preventing irregular migrants from entering Europe and detrimental to the safety and human rights of irregular migrants and asylum-seekers. While the internal and protective measures are lacking in the EU's policy, it also seems that the EU treats the considerable challenges that occur within Europe, and which are estimated to involve several million people, with a complete ambivalence. In explaining the EU's policy on irregular immigration the vertical and horizontal venue-shopping theory is tested in the thesis. This subsequently opens up further questions regarding the national approaches to irregular immigration in the member states, the preferences of different actors involved in the policy-making process at the EU-level, and the policy-making character of measures relating to EU-cooperation with third countries.