(Im-)Mobility Partnerships: Limits to EU Democracy Promotion Through Mobility in the Mediterranean

In the aftermath of the Arab Uprisings, the relations of the European Union (EU) with the Southern neighbourhood countries (SNCs) were reframed in the light of a new élan of democracy promotion, epitomised in the Communication on a partnership for democracy and shared prosperity (European Commission, A partnership for democracy and shared Prosperity with the Southern Mediterranean, COM (2011) 200 final. European Commission, Brussels, 2011a). The underlying logic of this approach was to leverage the building and consolidation of democracy and rule of law through EU conditional support for Mediterranean partners in terms of more ‘markets, money and mobility.’ This chapter aims to critically analyse cooperation on mobility within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), focusing on the case of Mobility Partnerships (MPs) in the Southern neighbourhood. Existing MPs and EU-SNCs agreements on migration and mobility challenge the mobility-democracy nexus advocated by the EU. When it comes to a trade-off between cooperation with authoritarian governments to ensure stability and democracy promotion, the EU tends to prioritise the former. Looking at the content of MPs with Tunisia, Morocco and Jordan, the chapter draws some useful considerations on the extent to which policy tools such as the MPs are constrained into a stability-democracy dilemma, contending that the EU is unable to promote democracy in the Southern neighbourhood via ‘more mobility’.