Gatekeeping Europe

Abstract This article examines the 2023 EU –Tunisia Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on migration management within the EU ’s broader strategy of externalizing migration control. Using a qualitative comparative case study, it situates the EU –Tunisia agreement alongside earlier arrangements with Morocco (2013), Libya (2017), and the Italy–Albania protocol (2023). The analysis demonstrates the MoU largely reproduces established patterns of EU migration governance, prioritizing border security and containment over migrant protection and sustainable development. It highlights pronounced power asymmetries between the EU and Tunisia, and questions the EU ’s claim to normative leadership, revealing inconsistencies between its democracy and human rights discourse and its security-driven practices. The findings suggest that short-term migration control measures risk exacerbating human rights violations, reinforcing authoritarian tendencies, and undermining Tunisia’s fragile political trajectory. The article argues that current externalization practices require fundamental rethinking to promote accountability, dignity, and more balanced forms of cooperation in EU –Arab migration governance.