Legitimising EU foreign policy: the EU-Turkey migrant readmission deal

Abstract

The 2015 migration surge in the European Union marked a pivotal moment in its history, prompting urgent action in response to a great number of illegal entries and revealing vulnerabilities in the EU's asylum system and external borders. In the context of this situation, the EU negotiated an agreement with Turkey to improve border management and limit immigration. This thesis investigates the legitimisation of the EU-Turkey deal in political discourse. The research puzzle arises from the discrepancy between the EU's initial welcoming stance towards migrants and its criticism of Turkey's human rights record, both of which were contradicted by a deal that included sending migrants to Turkey and obliging Turkey to prevent migrants from setting out to the EU. This thesis bases its understanding of the standards and dimensions of EU legitimacy on Beetham and Lord's (1998) concept of legitimacy and Vivien Schmidt's (2013; 2020) theory of input, output, and throughput legitimacy. Using the method of Critical Discourse Analysis, the study analyses speeches by key EU actors between 2015 and 2019, focussing on Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, European Council President Donald Tusk, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The findings reveal a predominant emphasis on output arguments, highlighting the perceived successes and justification of the EU-Turkey deal. Noticeably, throughput legitimacy emerged as a significant theme, with EU officials emphasising governance processes and interactions. However, input legitimacy was notably scarce in the discourse, and reflected a conflicted approach to democratic participation within the EU framework. This raises questions about the potential for legitimation through public support and the capacity for the construction of a united demos. Despite the EU's value-based community aspirations, the discourse suggests a struggle to garner genuine democratic support, revealing challenges in crisis resilience and legitimacy in comparison to individual nation-states. Overall, this research contributes to the understanding of EU foreign policy legitimacy and the complexities of legitimising controversial policy decisions in a normative power context.