The European Union (EU), despite the evident ageing of its own population and the shortage of labour in its Member States, is increasingly treating the growing number of migrants within the EU as a security risk. In order to prevent illegal entry into EU territory, it has concluded a series of legal and politi cal agreements with third countries. This raises, among other things, the question of the extent to which the provisions in these agreements are consistent with the obligations of the EU and its Member States in the field of human rights, in particular universally recognised economic and social rights. This article focuses on the agreements concluded after 2015 with Turkey, Tunisia and Mauritania, as 2015 is often referred to as the peak of the so-called migration crisis in the EU, and these agreements have been the most publicly criticised, especially from the perspective of ensuring human rights. In this context, the article analyses whether the EU, when concluding these agreements, duly took into account the need to ensure at least a minimum standard of respect for migrants’ universally recognised economic and social rights. The article also draws attention to the powers of EU institutions to conclude such international treaties and the possibility of their judicial review within the EU.
Key words: European Union, migration, migration agreements, Turkey, Tunisia, Mauritania, economic and social rights, Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union.