The EU’s Externalisation of Borders in Morocco: Historical Path and Main Consequences

This article intends to analyse the risks related to the policy of the externalisation of the management of the external borders, as put in place by the European Union. In particular, the attention will be drawn on the relationship between the European Union and the Kingdom of Morocco with regards to the undocumented immigration in the EU, THE EU’S EXTERNALISATION OF BORDERS IN MOROCCO: HISTORICAL PATH AND MAIN CONSEQUENCES Filippo Marinoni DOSSIER Geography of the externalisation of the European Union’s borders. Who are the border guards of the EU and what are the risks that this practice brings with it? DOSSIER • FEBRUARY 2023 2 which comes through the borders between Spain and Morocco, namely through the territories of Ceuta and Melilla. On the one hand, the author will briefly try to identify what have been the steps of the fortification of the border between the two countries, analysing both juridical and concrete actions that were put in practice in the last decades. Secondly, the attention will be shifted to the consequences of the reliance on Morocco as a guardian of EU’s borders, as it is a crucial partner in the region for the management of the flux of migrants from sub-Saharan countries. Indeed, what is at stake for the Union in externalising it borders - in general and -, in Morocco in particular? Which are the risks that the reliance over a third country about such a delicate matter encompass? Two types of effects will be underlined: first, from a political standpoint, we assist at the loss of political bargaining of the European Union towards Morocco. Second, from a humanitarian point of view, migrants that are hindered (by laws and fences) in their path towards the EU, are thus obliged to find new and risky routes to enter the Union, in order to exercise their right of asking for asylum and searching for a better life.