“Flexible” cooperation between the European Union and third countries to contain migration flows and the uncertainties of “compensation measures”: the case of the resettlement of refugees in EU Member States

Thispiece focuses on the sets of measures designed by the EU to counterbalance the containment strategy resulting from informal cooperationwith third countries of origin or transit of migrants/asylum seekers. In particular, attention is drawn tothe resettlement programmesand the EU-Turkey statement and tothe various initiatives taken by the EU to support the return of people held in detention centres in Libya. The aim of the study is to examine if these measures provide legal certainty to asylum applicantsand migrants who are the target of the EU efforts.The answer is negativeas far as the resettlement programmes are concerned.This undermines the qualification of the EU as a trustedpartner for international organisations active in the area of migration/refugee protection. It is claimed that the EU, which favoured anincrease of resettlement targetsby Member States between 2015 and 2018, should do more to address the implementation deficits of the resettlement programmes. Making the disbursement of EU funds conditional upon cooperation in the area of the resettlement of asylum seekers is one of the measures that could be adopted to increase legal certainty for the beneficiaries of the resettlement schemes. Yet, the Commission has confined itself to proposingthe setting up of a stable Union resettlement scheme which continues to be voluntary in its recent proposals of reform known as the “Pact on Migration and Asylum”. As a result, some Member States will continue to modestly contribute to resettlement efforts.