E.g., 04/23/2024
E.g., 04/23/2024
Europe

Europe

Europe faces an interesting set of immigration challenges and opportunities: Demographic pressures as many European societies age, a lively and at times tense policy and political debate over questions of identity and immigrant integration, and a unique policy environment that has knit many European countries together with regards to free movement, the management of outer borders, asylum, and other immigration-related topics. MPI has long conducted research and analysis of European policy on topics ranging from labor mobility and border security to immigrant integration, citizenship, and foreign qualifications recognition, which can be found below.

Recent Activity

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Seasonal Worker Programs in Europe: Promising Practices and Ongoing Challenges
Policy Briefs
February 2020
By  Kate Hooper and Camille Le Coz
Integrating Refugees and Asylum Seekers into the German Economy and Society: Empirical Evidence and Policy Objectives
Reports
December 2019
By  Herbert Brücker, Philipp Jaschke and Yuliya Kosyakova
Refugee Sponsorship Programs: A Global State of Play and Opportunities for Investment
Policy Briefs
December 2019
By  Susan Fratzke, Lena Kainz, Hanne Beirens, Emma Dorst and Jessica Bolter
Cover of the report Volunteers and Sponsors: A Catalyst for Refugee Integration?
Reports
November 2019
By  Susan Fratzke and Emma Dorst
Coverthumb SVR Final Report FINAL
Reports
October 2019
By  Hanne Beirens, Camille Le Coz, Kate Hooper, Karoline Popp, Jan Schneider and Jeanette Süss
Coverthumb MPIE Brexit OnTheBrink
Policy Briefs
September 2019
By  Meghan Benton and Aliyyah Ahad

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climate change migration flood

Climate change is affecting human movement now, causing internal displacement and international migration, and will do so in the future. But the impact is often indirect, and rarely is the process as straightforward as one might think. This article provides an overview of research on how climatic hazards drive and affect migration, reviewing which types of people might migrate and under what conditions.

Sailors and marines on the HMS Bulwark help migrants ashore in Italy.

Even as the number of people making the dangerous journey through the Central Mediterranean from North Africa to Europe has declined since the migration and refugee crisis of 2015-16, the rate of deaths has increased. This article evaluates the role of Europe's hardening approach to trans-Mediterranean migration and the criminalization of search-and-rescue operations by nongovernmental organizations.

Greece_Lesvos_tents

When he was elected prime minister in 2019, Kyriakos Mitsotakis promised what he called “strict but fair” reforms to secure Greece's borders and speed up transfers of asylum seekers crowding Aegean islands. Yet domestic and geopolitical tensions continued to roil the islands, later joined by a global pandemic, culminating in a fire that destroyed most of Lesvos's Moria refugee camp. This article examines Greece's efforts to strike a delicate balance on migration in a complex era.

The National Museum of History in Tirana, Albania features a large mosaic with nationalist imagery.

Southeastern Europe is experiencing one of the sharpest depopulations in the world, with countries such as Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia on pace to see their populations shrink by at least 15 percent in coming decades. To counter this trend, governments in the region, NGOs, and the private sector are increasingly, if unevenly, tapping into large diaspora communities to spur economic growth and strengthen cultural ties.

Migrants aboard a rubber vessel are rescued in the Mediterranean

Libya was once a prized destination for workers from around the world. But after Muammar Gaddafi’s overthrow in 2011, the country became the transit point for hundreds of thousands of Europe-bound asylum seekers and other migrants. Following Libya's 2017 deal with Italy to detain and return migrants caught at sea—which was renewed in February 2020—migrants became trapped in an unstable country, facing harrowing realities, as this article explores.

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Audio
April 8, 2020

MPI and MPI Europe experts discuss the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on asylum systems in Europe and North America, as well as in developing regions, where 85 percent of refugees live. During this freeform conversation, our analysts also assess the implications for the principle of asylum and the future for a post-World War II humanitarian protection system that is under threat.

Expert Q&A, Audio
March 31, 2020

Governments are facing urgent pandemic-related questions. One of the more pressing ones: Who is going to harvest crops in countries that rely heavily on seasonal foreign workers? In this podcast, MPI experts examine ways in which countries could address labor shortages in agriculture, including recruiting native-born workers and letting already present seasonal workers stay longer.

Video, Audio
March 24, 2020

This webinar, organized by MPI and the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility at The New School, discussed migration policy responses around the globe in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and examined where migration management and enforcement tools may be useful and where they may be ill-suited to advancing public health goals. 

Spraying and onion harvesting for Philip Halling   creative commons license geograph site
Video, Audio
February 25, 2020

As the European Union prepares to review the implementation of its Seasonal Workers Directive, as well as countries such as the United Kingdom continue to explore new approaches to selecting seasonal workers, this webinar features findings from a policy brief on the topic. 

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Audio
December 5, 2019

Amid debates about the costs and benefits of free movement, this webinar examines evidence from the REMINDER project on different types of East-West mobility. Speakers examine big-picture trends of East-West migration; consider possible policy responses at regional, national, and EU levels to alleviate challenges; and reflect on actions that could be taken under a new European Commission.

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Recent Activity

Reports
October 2021

As migration levels rise, societies are facing competing narratives about immigration. Often, there is dissonance between top-down narratives from political leaders and bottom-up narratives spread through personal and media engagement. This report explores positive and negative narratives around migration in Colombia, Lebanon, Morocco, Sweden, and the United States to determine the contexts in which some stick while others fail.

Commentaries
October 2021

The U.S. decision to lift border restrictions for fully vaccinated international travelers represents the latest move by governments around the world to loosen COVID-19-era travel restrictions. Yet it underscores a major policy shift that has gone almost unnoticed: with vaccination moving from being a fast track to travel to becoming a required ticket. This raises significant equity and technical considerations, as this commentary explores.

Expert Q&A, Audio
October 13, 2021

MPI co-founder Demetrios G. Papademetriou takes on many questions, including whether the role of think tanks has evolved over the last two decades, in this World of Migration conversation with MPI’s Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan. They also look ahead to the challenges that will dominate immigration policymaking in the years ahead.

Commentaries
October 2021

As European countries seek to revive their economies in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, acute labor shortages in a variety of sectors risk stopping the recovery in its tracks. This commentary explores why these shortages are emerging and how immigration policy can form one part of the broader strategy to meet labor market needs.

Video, Audio, Webinars
October 4, 2021

This virtual conference explores how the diverse landscape of partnerships, social enterprises, participatory models, and community-led initiatives spearheading social innovation for inclusion has fared during COVID-19. It also focuses on how this ecosystem can emerge strengthened from the pandemic, and be a vital force in addressing new humanitarian challenges.

Reports
September 2021

European countries’ responses to the pandemic have been extraordinary in scope and volume, and strengthened appreciation for the role of robust welfare programs in helping individuals and communities weather challenges. This report explores the case for using the crisis to more permanently rethink European welfare states and whether the social-investment approach could serve as a tool for post-pandemic recovery in diverse, immigrant-receiving societies.

Video, Audio, Webinars
September 14, 2021

With COVID-19 likely to significantly reshape health-care systems in Europe and worldwide, there is a window of opportunity to test new strategies to tackle longstanding migrant health disparities, and ensure that structural changes accommodate the complex needs of diverse populations.

Reports
September 2021

While the pandemic has had broad impacts across European societies, these have not been evenly felt. Many migrants and refugees have long faced health challenges, such as limited health-care eligibility and accessibility, and COVID-19 has threatened to deepen health disparities. This report explores how European countries have responded and what opportunities have emerged to tackle disparities in migrant health.

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