Abstract
In 2008, the EU-Cape Verde mobility partnership was adopted to facilitate migration management between the European Union (EU) and the West African country of Cape Verde. This stands in the tradition of migration as an aspect of the EU external policy, and includes aspects of security, development and legal migration in one single ‘migration package’. Frontex is tasked with the border management within this specific partnership, as the only EU-level agency participating. The purpose of this thesis is to study this policy instrument in order to understand the recent developments in the EU migration management policy, the nature of the partnership and how it contributes to the coordination of the overall migration management policy. Frontex has been criticized for being hostile towards human rights and for providing the so-called Fortress Europe. In order to investigate how this is manifested in the partnership, the very nature of the agency has been studied. The main finding in this thesis is that the mobility partnership contributes to the EU migration management policy through enhanced cooperation and interaction between the participating member states. Through rules, standard operating procedures and a shared understanding, the mobility partnership is on its way to become institutionalized. This process of institutionalization may indicate a change in the overall migration management policy contributing to a more coordinated EU migration policy. Frontex has contributed to feed the border management agenda into the EU-Cape Verde mobility partnership, and this has been possible because of its organizational capacity.