Policy briefs
30 November 2020

Towards mutually beneficial EU-West African migration cooperation

Assessing EU policy trends and their implications for migration cooperation

Women awaiting care for their children in Northern Chad, West Africa, International Federation of Red Cross / Flickr

The political stakes of migration cooperation at domestic, regional and international levels are crucial when assessing the potential of West African states to establish mutually beneficial relations. European–West African migration cooperation is unlikely to be mutually beneficial without consideration of such local realities, and political and social stakes. 

This policy brief assesses the extent to which policy trends in the EU external migration governance framework, as put forward in the New Pact on Migration and Asylum and the new EU Multiannual Financial Framework for 2021-2027, match the Union’s commitment to building a mutually beneficial partnership with third countries. This question will be assessed by drawing on EU migration cooperation with West African states. It will show that the rhetoric of a mutually beneficial relationship and a paradigm shift is not demonstrated in the actual policy content.

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Authors

External authors

Leonie Jegen
Leonie Jegen
PhD Candidate at Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (UVA)
Omar N. Cham
Omar N. Cham
PhD Candidate in the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences and Solvay Business School (VUB)