The limits of EU border and immigration policy in Gibraltar: effects on the legal situation of Moroccan workers

Abstract

Abstract. In the European Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ) is affected by multiple asymmetries arising from the need for flexibility in the integration strategy with respect to those matters connected with the hard core of State sovereignty. This “variable geometry” has a significant impact on the development of a coherent status for third country nationals through a genuine Common Immigration Policy. The particular situation of Gibraltar is very illustrative in this respect, because here, the specificities of its status both in relation to EU law and international law converge with a differentiated approach to the Schengen acquis, and with an opt-out to the Common Migration Policy.

Keywords: Area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ) ; Gibraltar ; Moroccan workers ; migrant workers; European migration policy; opt-out; Schengen acquis.

This article discusses some of the disruptions caused by variable integration in the AFSJ, in light of the particular example of the situation of Moroccan workers in Gibraltar, in relation to which this amalgam of legal specificities has resulted in a situation of reduced mobility and isolation from some positive legal developments in the field of the Common Migration Policy.