Cooperation for migration between EU and African countries has emerged as a key regulatory framework concerning international relations. The perceived intensity of migratory flows from Africa towards Europe – in addition to welfare state and labour market crisis and the war on terror – highlighted an increasing use of borders control measures by the EU States, aiming to contain and reduce irregular migration. At the same time, the EU has built an intense relationship with African governments with the aim of spreading and implementing specific models and tools concerning migratory flows management: militarization and digitalization of borders, citizenship-based selection of migrants, criminalization of irregulars, deportation. As a result of international migration agreements subscription African regulatory migration framework has been transformed following the EU approach. The EU borders externalization process has involved African governments to a different degree, achieving definite understandings depending on both security issues (e.g. fight against international terrorism) and whether the country being a source of migratory flows or a “transit” country. In this picture African governments are perceived as passive recipients of European governance, often described as empty political entities exclusively aiming to economic funds and aids obtainment, corroborating narration based on “predatory African regimes”. It is not surprising how in a western-oriented perspective African governments intents and negotiations are ignored or perceived as irrelevant. Stemming from the theoretical line describing African governments’ alignment to EU migration agenda as a strategy to capitalize interests external to the purpose of such agreements – international legitimacy and reliability acquirement, both national and regional economic and political achievements – this paper aims to understand the essence of these interests and how the transfer of EU migration agenda can be mean to achieve them. Focusing on Tunisia, this paper highlights Tunis strategic use of the international regulatory framework of migration, taking into account regional balances and political internal aims determining state agency.

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Mot-clé : migration, Transfer Policy, and Tunisia

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