Negotiating Europe's Immigration Frontiers

The European Union has become a region of intense immigration and the movements of third country nationals from outside or within the territory of the Member States has jumped to the top of EC/EU political agenda. Important EC/EU measures have been adopted concerning the most important aspects in the area of immigration since the late eighties. The movements of third country nationals have nonetheless been regulated by EC law, although incidentally, since the origin of the Communities. The analysis covers 50 years of Community immigration history and it studies the changes in the immigration movements themselves and, in particular, of their regulation under EC/EU law. The volume focuses on the factors that have contributed to and that are shaping emerging European immigration policy. It seeks to evaluate the real impact of old and, especially, new rules on racial and ethnic minority groups and women. An EU integrated policy covering all aspects related to third country nationals does not exist but very important steps, consolidated in the Amsterdam Treaty, have been taken over the last decade (1989/1999).;The strategy which should be adopted at EU level is not very clear or coherent due to the complexity of the area itself and because of the different approaches of the EU Institutions on the answer to give to immigration issues. The book shows that although some gaps remain in the labyrinth of EC/EU immigration rules, the main trend, imposed principally by the Member States, is towards the creation of a White Fortress Europe.