Acceso usuarios
Reino Unido
This contribution takes issue with what I have called the ‘constitutional dismantling’ of externalmigration policy through the tactical informalisation of readmission cooperation. It maps out thestrategic use of soft law mediating the tacit approval or active involvement of the main EU actors.The strategy is supposed to enhance policy outcomes but is at the expense of foundational princi-ples. The principles of conferral, institutional balance, and sincere/loyal cooperation impose key con-straints on EU/Member State action that the choice for soft law ignores. My main contention is thatthis is not an unintended consequence, but a deliberate or, at least, tolerated result, amounting to aform of ‘concerted dis-integration’ pursued by the very actors supposed to guard the EU integrationproject in line with Treaty provisions. The approach denotes the instrumentalisation of legal mecha-nisms for the advancement of policy objectives, embracing a regulation-without-legitimation para-digm that unravels the EU’s constitutional framework.
