The eu’s miGrATion relATions wiTh menA counTries 149
Table 4.1 Key developments in EU migration and asylum policy
Ye a r Development
1985 Schengen Agreement: i nitially an agreement between five states (Benelux
countries, France and Germany) to move towards full application of the free
movement provisions of the Treaty of rome (1957). it became a testing ground for
the development of measures to underpin free movement with internal security
controls.
198 6 Single European Act: Aimed to create a frontier-free europe within which people,
services, goods and capital could move freely. compensating immigration and
asylum measures were dealt with outside the formal treaty framework in informal
patterns of intergovernmental cooperation.
19 92 Maastricht Treaty: created an intergovernmental pillar of the eu dealing with
Justice and home Affairs.
19 95 Barcelona Declaration: launches the Barcelona Process of dialogue between the
then 15 eu member states and 14 menA partner countries.
19 97 Amsterdam Treaty: created a new chapter of the main eu Treaty dealing with free
movement, migration and asylum.
1999 Tampere Agreement (european council 1999): outlines the framework for common
policies on migration and asylum with four main elements: Partnership with
countries of origin, a common european asylum system, the fair treatment of
third-country nationals, and the management of migration flows.
2001 Nice Treaty: created scope for the increased use of qualified majority voting in the
council of ministers.
2005 Hague Programme: developed the second of the eu’s five-year plans for interna-
tional security.
2009 Lisbon Treaty: ‘normalised’ immigration policy by making it subject to common
institutional rules and procedures.
2010 Stockholm Programme: mapped the eu’s internal security agenda for the period
2010 –2014.source: author’s compilation
4.4 Measures and instruments of EU-MENA migration
relations
In this section we move on to assess the more specif ic aspects of the ex-
ternal dimension to EU migration policy. The EU’s immediate response to
migration-related aspects of the Arab uprisings was, f irst, to develop joint
operations with the EU’s border-security agency, Frontex, and, second, to
make funds available from the €25 million held by the European Borders
Fund and the European Refugee Fund (CEC 2011a). In order to understand
the evolution of this response, it is necessary to explore the development
of EU instruments since the mid-1990s and to assess the development of
Europe’s international-migration relations.