The EU-Georgia readmission agreement as a showcase of the strengths and weaknesses of the EU neighbourhood policy
Executive Summary:
This research digest examines the EU-Georgia readmission agreement (signed 2011) as a paradigmatic case of EU migration externalisation policy, revealing both its operational success and strategic limitations. Georgia, a small Eastern Partnership country characterized by high emigration (over 20% of its population), has been widely lauded as a EU "success story" for implementing its readmission obligations with approximately 97% approval rates and remarkably efficient processing (averaging 6-7 days). However, the research demonstrates that Georgia's acceptance of this agreement was driven primarily by geopolitical alignment with the EU—particularly its pursuit of Association Agreement status and EU candidate status—rather than genuine priority for return migration governance. While the paired visa facilitation and Mobility Partnership mechanisms created incentive-based cooperation, the EU's "technical, routine-based approach" focused narrowly on efficient deportations has failed to address Georgia's broader socio-political challenges: returning migrants face inadequate reintegration support and social stigma, economic reintegration remains ineffective due to labour market mismatches, and the visa-free regime introduced in 2017 paradoxically coincided with increased asylum applications and organized crime concerns. The study concludes that whilst the readmission agreement represents EU migration diplomacy success in procedural terms, Georgia's recent political trajectory—marked by democratic backsliding and rapprochement with Russia—underscores the limitations of EU migration externalisation when decoupled from comprehensive geopolitical engagement and when normative incentives prove insufficient to support sustainable return governance and address root causes of emigration.
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