The migratory pressure at the EU’s external borders is a major chal-
lenge for the policy makers’ community. As further evidence, the EU Action on
Migratory Pressures approved by the European Council in 2012 identi
fi
ed in the
“Enhancement of border management at the external borders,” a strategic prior-
ity for the next
fi
ve years. Moving from the analysis of the political, institutional
and geopolitical factors that have led the EU to design its migration policy in
function of a vision marked by securitisation, this study examines the European
strategy on migration and asylum by analysing criticalities and prospects that
have emerged in the last decade of the integrated border management of the Ital-
ian southern external borders.