Work

The Financialisation of the EU Governance of Return and Readmission - Concept note

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: This concept note examines how the European Union’s evolving financial architecture has turned funding into a central tool for governing return and readmission beyond its borders. Tracing four phases from the 1990s to the New Pact on Migration and Asylum, it shows how external migration funding grew from fragmented development aid into a consolidated, conditional system centred on instruments such as AMIF, BMVI, trust funds, and especially NDICI–Global Europe. A multi-level analysis of €35.6 billion in migration and border-management spending, including 221 NDICI–GE projects, finds that the bulk of resources prioritises control, containment, and return over protection, legal pathways, and reintegration, often under humanitarian framing. The note argues that this “financialisation” of externalisation embeds EU return and readmission priorities in third countries’ migration infrastructures, while raising serious concerns about transparency, accountability, and the marginalisation of rights-based objectives.

Source: Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18232760

Authors: Gokalp Aras, Nefise Ela, Yüksel, Umutcan

Institution: Swedish Institute

Language: English

Topic: Gender and Women's Rights

Subfield: Political Science and International Relations

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: green

Funder: European Commission