Dealing with “Difficult Neighbours”: Interdependent Dynamics of Migration Policy Transfer in the Cases of Libya and Russia

The aim of this paper is to compare the interaction between the European Union (EU) with Libya and Russia in the context of migration governance in the neighbourhood. Home to considerable oil and gas reserves, both Libya and Russia attract both regular and irregular labour migration and are transit countries for migration to the EU.

In this context, the paper seeks to explain how Libya and Russia contribute to, and are deeply implicated in, the shaping of EU neighbourhood. We shall argue that the relative leeway that Libya and Russia enjoy and the patterns of two-way transfer with the EU rest on the unique features that the two countries share economically, politically and more precisely in terms of migration management as well as their not being formally part of the ENP.