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Policy Framework Adopted by Host Countries
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Moroccan nationals with Germany, France, Portugal, Italy, and Spain.346 Morocco has also
agreed to other measures aimed at restricting such irregular flows following pressure on the
country (notably from Spain) to crack down on human smuggling and strengthen its border
controls.347 For example, in 2006 the European Union provided Morocco with €67 million
(USD$75 million) to finance a new program meant to create a strengthened, comprehensive
approach to border control.348 Additionally, one widely touted success of the Rabat Process
has been the creation of the Seahorse Atlantic Network, which serves as a platform for
information exchange between Spain, Portugal, and the countries of West Africa to prevent
unauthorized migration and human trafficking.349
In 2013, Morocco was the first Arab country to sign a Mobility Partnership with the European
Union.350 The plan established objectives for more efficient migration management, and
largely utilizes a “donor-beneficiary logic,” through which economic aid and visa facilitation
are offered on the condition that Morocco effectively control migration flows from the
country.351 For example, visa liberalization has been tied to a readmission agreement long
desired by the European Union that would return to Morocco third-country nationals who
travel through the country to Europe.352 This has proven to be a seemingly insurmountable
barrier to the negotiations, as Morocco has long refused to sign such an agreement due to
various domestic and foreign policy concerns.353 As of August 2015, there were 25 ongoing
projects in the field of migration financed by the European Union in Morocco for a total of over
€20 million (USD$22 million).354 Cooperation has recently included a strong focus on the
integration of immigrants in Morocco, such as the Sharaka Project designed to scale up
effective development projects, support the labor integration of regularized migrants, and
other efforts to effectively mobilize Moroccans residing in Europe.355
346 Myriam Cherti, Brhmie Balaram, and Miklos Szilard, Welcome Back Everyone: The Return and Reintegration of Irregular
Migrants from Morocco, (London: IPPR, 2013), 26
347 Jørgen Carling, “Migration Control and Migrant Fatalities at the Spanish-African Borders,” International Migration Review
41, no. 2 (Summer 2007), 322
348 European Commission, “Commission staff working document accompanying the Communication from the Commission to
the Council and the European Parliament on strengthening the European Neighbourhood Policy - ENP Progress Report on
Morocco,” December 4, 2006, These founds come in addition to a
massive Spanish investment in controlling its national borders through reinforcing the land borders of Ceuta and Melilla,
and creating the Integrated System of External Vigilance (SIVE) to intensify surveillance of the Strait of Gibraltar. Carling,
“Migration Control and Migrant Fatalities at the Spanish-African Borders,” 324-325
349 Participants in the Seahorse Atlantic Network are Spain, Portugal, Senegal, Mauritania, Cape Verde, Morocco, Gambia and
Guinea Bissau. European Commission, “The European Union’s cooperation with Africa on migration.”
350 The partnership is officially signed by Morocco, the European Union and nine member states (Belgium, France, Germany,
Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.) Directorate-General for Internal Policies. EU
cooperation with third countries in the field of migration, (Brussels: European Commission, 2015), 127,
351 de Haas, “Morocco: Setting the Stage for Becoming a Migration Transition Country?”; Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights
Network, Analysis of the Mobility Partnership signed between the Kingdom of Morocco, the European Union and nine Member
States on 7 June 2013, (Copenhagen: Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network, 2014), 2,
352 Negotiations for such an agreement have been held since 2003, and were re-launched in 2013. The readmission
agreement between Spain and Morocco in 1992 includes such a provision, but Morocco has typically denied repatriation by
arguing that there is insufficient proof that the migrants in question departed from Morocco. Carling, “Migration Control and
Migrant Fatalities at the Spanish-African Borders,” 323; Cherti, Balaram and Szilard, Welcome Back Everyone, 26.
353 Domestically, it is seen as an unfair burden placed on Morocco by the European Union. It also runs counter to Morocco’s
recent politique africaine , which has sought to develop stronger political and economic ties to countries in West Africa.
Carrera et al,Eu-Morocco Cooperation on Readmission, Borders and Protection.
354 Directorate-General for Internal Policies. EU cooperation with third countries in the field of migration, 130
355 The mobilization of Moroccans residing abroad is part of another goal of the Moroccan government to include ex-
patriates in the country’s development process. Efforts include support for the reintegration of returning Moroccan