Multi-levelling and externalizing migration and asylum: lessons from the southern European islands

Southern European countries have come to constitute the most vulnerable external border of the European Union (EU) over the last decade. Irregular migration pressures have been acutely felt on the EU’s southern sea borders, and particularly on four sets of islands: Canary Islands (Spain), Lampedusa and Linosa (Italy), Malta, and Aegean Islands (Greece). This quartet is, to a large extent, used as stepping stones by irregular migrants and asylum seekers to reach the European continent. This paper studies the role of these islands as ‘outposts’ of a framework of externalization. It starts by discussing the notion of externalization and its different facets. It considers how externalization is linked to both fencing and gate-keeping strategies of migration and asylum control. The second part of the paper focuses on the special role of the island quartet with respect to the externalization web cast by national and EU-wide migration policies. It concludes with a critical reflection on the multi-level character of externalization policies and practices that occur both within the EU and between the EU and third countries.