Digital Borders Governance: The Role of Technoogy in EU Migration Control

This thesis provides a critical analysis of the European Integrated Border Management (EIBM) with a particular focus on the increasing significance of technology in governing borders. It investigates how the European Union, operating within the framework of international law, has shifted border management from a solely sovereign matter of national governments to a supranationally coordinated system with advanced technologies forming a key role. While digitalisation and surveillance infrastructures are often presented as mechanisms for efficiency and security, this research argues that they, in fact, reshape the very legal meaning of borders and risk completing the erasure of legal obligations under international law. It is also noted that the paradoxical nature of the EU integration is itself complex: as the internal borders of the Schengen Area are removed to facilitate free movement, the management of external borders is simultaneously strengthened with unprecedented technologically mediated surveillance through biometrics, databases, satellite systems, and algorithmic risk determinations. This research, in addition to understanding the technological shift, also aims to understand the broader legal, institutional, and normative impact on sovereignty, migration, and human rights. In terms of methodology, the research is based on doctrinal legal analysis of EU treaties, regulations, and case law, combined with a critical review of policy instruments and institutional practices, with a particular emphasis on instruments like the Schengen Borders Code, the Frontex/EBCG regulatory framework, and the financial instruments that fund border infrastructures. The legal analysis is augmented by policy-oriented analysis of the use of biometric databases, surveillance systems, and digital risk-assessment tools at Europe’s external borders. The findings emphasize how technology has become a fundamental element of the EU's border regime. New biometric identification technologies (Eurodac, VIS, SIS, ECRIS-TNC, EES, Eurodac, ETIAS), geo-location technologies (satellite-based surveillance), and AI-assisted risk analysis collectively allow an unprecedented level of monitoring and control. At the same time, they reinforce asymmetries: while they enable free movement on the inside, they institutionalize exclusions on the outside for third-country nationals and asylum seekers. Furthermore, in many cases these practices do not have adequate transparency, accountability, or proportionality—all necessary to form an adequate basis to make decisions on fundamental rights related to privacy, data protection, and the principle of non-refoulement. The paradox of EIBM emerges clearly: Europe is simultaneously dismantling internal borders while constructing ever more sophisticated technological barriers at its external frontiers. In conclusion, this thesis demonstrates that technology is not a neutral tool for border enforcement; rather, it is altering the legal meaning of borders in the EU. There is an urgent need for a stronger normative framework, ensuring that digital surveillance and data-driven border governance remain consistent with the principles of international law, particularly in the domains of migrant’s protection, non-refoulement, and fundamental rights. Unless contained through increased accountability and human rights safeguard, increasing reliance on digital and biometric borders risks trapping Europe as a "Fortress Europe" — open and borderless for some, but exclusionary and heavily fortified for others.