The Role of Third Countries in EU Migration Policy: The Mobility Partnerships

Abstract Third countries are actors in EU external migration policy, not merely passive recipients of policy proposals. In order to understand policy outcomes, it is necessary to understand why third countries decide to participate (or not) in EU migration policy initiatives. The conditionality model provides an explanation which focuses on the domestic preferences of and processes in the third countries. In 2007, the EU introduced the Mobility Partnerships. These partnerships are intended to be the framework for migration relations between the EU and third countries in Eastern Europe and Africa. The Cape Verdean government decided to sign a Mobility Partnership because the benefits of this cooperation with the EU outweighed the costs. The Senegalese government refused to sign because the Mobility Partnership would have implied significant, unacceptable costs.