Following the aligned approach to the regulation of migration in the early years of the Community and the differentiation triggered by the political momentum of the 1990s, the period reviewed in this part can be characterized as one of realization and paradoxes. This final part primarily engages with valid law. Secondary law on migrants’ rights was amended for EU migrants and adopted for TCN migrants during this time. The analysis first identifies the ultimate balancing of economic and social objectives behind the limitation of rights of EU migrants as a manifestation of a sustainable migration framework. Second, it reveals the central role of economic considerations in the regulation of migration from third countries. It also suggests that national contestation and the lack of long-term considerations in the Council are among the reasons why the regulation of migration for TCNs cannot serve economic and social sustainability. Finally, concluding the historical analysis of the regulation of migration which started in Part I, this part reveals the paradoxes and tensions that arise from the way in which economic and social objectives are pursued through EU migration law.

This chapter analyses the current framework regulating migration from third countries. It is only in this period that the relevant secondary law was fully formed. The analysis reveals the extensive attribution of rights to those TCN migrants the EU most needs, that is, those who are considered crucial for the EU development project. In parallel, economic safeguards of different kind appear in the system to ensure that TCN migration can in no way pose risks to the EU project. Next to the legislative framework, the examination of the case-law of the Court highlights the consolidation of social objectives by an emphasis on Charter rights in review of national measures transposing secondary law. In this chapter, the investigation further shows the complete elimination of migrants’ rights from agreements concluded by the EU with third countries.

This part begins the investigation in the past and examines how economic and social objectives shaped the regulation of migration in the period from the Treaty of Paris to the Single European Act. In doing so, it proves that while the concept of sustainable migration is a recent one, the social and economic pillars of sustainability have been constantly guiding the development of EU migration law. Specifically, the balancing between economic and social considerations shaped the regulation of migration already from the establishment of Community law. The analysis further shows that during the years of post-war growth, the EU institutions’ approach to the regulation of migration was aligned for both Community and TCN migrants. Contemporary analyses of EU migration law emphasize the different rationales behind free movement and regulation of migration from third countries. In contrast to this, the investigation shows that during the early years of the Community law, all migrants were perceived as having the same function for the collective project of growth.

This part investigates the period from the Single European Act to the Failed Constitutional Treaty. During this period, the approach to EU and TCN migrants was differentiated. The political ambition behind the transformation of the EU framework framed an institutional discourse that emphasized the special status of EU migrants as citizens, and the lesser status of TCN migrants, whose status and rights were left in the realm of intergovernmental cooperation. However, a closer investigation of archival material and case-law undertaken in this part proves that the need to balance the economic and social objectives of the Treaties continued to appear and condition the rights of all migrants. Essentially this part shows that economic and social sustainability objectives continued to exist as the end to be served by the regulation of migration, even when the prevalent institutional discourse highlighted different considerations. Adding another building block to the historical investigation, this part demonstrates that while the EU sustainable migration objective is a recent one, its underlying considerations have constantly found their way in EU secondary law and case-law.

This chapter focuses on the regulation of migration from third countries after the Single European Act and before the failed Constitutional Treaty. It presents various failed proposals of the Commission during these years, showing the interaction and opposing views of the Commission and the Council. A closer investigation into the Commission’s work shows that this institution continuously envisioned and proposed a legal framework that could efficiently serve the economic and social objectives of the EU project through the regulation of migration, thereby shaping a framework of sustainable migration. At the same time, Member States in the Council expressed a strong political discourse emphasizing their common efforts to progress in the EU, while in practice they blocked the relevant proposals because they could not agree on a common EU conception of growth and progress. Instead, what they pursued was national growth and progress. During this time, the first instruments on admission and rights for TCN migrants were adopted with standards significantly downgraded from the initial proposals.