This research paper takes departure from the contradictions of understandings regarding the purpose of operation EUNAVFOR Med, which operates in the Mediterranean aiming at disrupting the business model of human smugglers. The alteration of opinions concerns the question(s) regarding, to what extent the operation should be considered a securitization, and if so, of what? Research has consequently been drawn from the Copenhagen’s School theory of securitization, looking deeper into the involvement of the main actors in the operation, the EU, the human smugglers and the migrants, in order to identify if this operation could indeed be considered a securitization act. By placing the main actors of the operation in the center of the theoretical framework this research has been able to identify how this operation can be understood from a securitization theory and also what has been securitized. The methodological approach is based upon Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis, framing both the structure and the analytical apparatus of the research paper, enabling an even broader understanding of the case. The result showed that there are indeed indicators demonstrating that operation EUNAVFOR Med could be considered a successful securitization of human smugglers. Also, in line with this operation, there are several indicators that shows how the EU has managed to pull a securitization move of migration, arguing that the migrants has formed an ‘uncontrolled problem’ for the EU.

The European Union has throughout recent decades launched multiple maritime operations with the objective to counter irregular migration across the Mediterranean Sea. In 2015, a new Common Security and Defence Policy-mission was launched through agreements between the Union and the Libyan state. Against the civil society’s heavy criticism of Operation Sophia, this thesis is interested in how the mission was legitimatized, exploring how legitimacy was thought about in two diverging EU-institutions: the Council of the European Union and the European External Action Service. The thesis understand legitimacy as a concept contingent on institutionalized norms that transpire within demarcated ‘communities’, building on the Weberian notion of multiple legitimacies. And in line with the theoretical framework of Bernstein, this thesis exclusively examine how norms of sovereignty, economy and democracy influence criteria’s of legitimacy. The methodological approach constitutes a discourse analysis of Operation Sophia’s policy framework, building on Bacchi’s WPR-methodology. The thesis demonstrate that the Council of the European Union primarily relied on norms connected to public international law while the European External Action Service rather established legitimacy through norms of democracy.