Contemporary border control and migration management policies and practices of the European Union are structured within a framework characterised by an intimate collaboration between public and private interests, with public interests broadly represented by EU agencies and member states, and private interests by security and defence companies, lobbying consultancies, law firms, universities and research institutes...

...Advanced and innovative border technologies range from pre-screening technologies like biometrics comprising of facial features and fingerprints, to land and maritime surveillance by technologically advanced systems like early warning radar systems and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that can detect suspicious movements or vessels from a certain distance. This has created a market for technologically advanced software, technologies and equipment that is shaped, supported and provided primarily by major security and defence companies such as Airbus...BAE Systems, and Safran, in collaboration with software companies, universities, research centres and think-tanks making migration control a profitable and viable option...

In addition, state ownership in major security and defence companies shape security and migration control practices in third countries outside of the European Union. A crucial case is Finmeccanica’s role in the construction of Libyan border control capacities consists of a “special relationship of a common colonial history, and bounded by important economic ties”...

Companies also have robust business exchanges between them: Safran Group, which is a French multinational company specialising in aircraft, rocket engine, aerospace components, and security, was formed in 2005 by the merger of Snecma and Sagem SA and acts as a subsystem producer for the major security and defence companies...