E.g., 04/24/2024
E.g., 04/24/2024
Europe

Europe

European Union

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.

Iraqi and Swedish families paired in Sweden's community sponsorship program
Policy Briefs

Supporting Self-Sufficiency: Considerations for Refugees’ Transition out of Sponsorship and Complementary Pathways Programs

As more countries launch refugee sponsorship and complementary pathways programs, planning for and supporting refugees’ transition out of these programs is essential. While often receiving less attention than other elements of program design, a clear transition plan can promote refugees’ self-sufficiency, social cohesion, and overall program sustainability. This MPI Europe issue brief explores common transition challenges as well as promising practices.

Image of female worker at the Boqueria market in Barcelona making a crepe
Commentaries

As Europe and the United States Face Similar Migration Challenges, Spain Can Act as a Bridge

Spain and the United States both receive their greatest number of immigrants from Latin America, and have worked collaboratively together on displacement crises and other migration issues. As shared immigration challenges dominate debate on both sides of the Atlantic, Spain can serve as a vital bridge in the policy conversation, this commentary notes.

Passengers wearing face masks at a UK airport
Reports

Coordination Breakdown: The Impacts of COVID-19 on Migration in Europe

The story of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe is chiefly one of challenges to solidarity and coordination. Cross-border movement—even within Europe’s Schengen Area—ground to a halt, and countries took varied approaches to using travel measures in an attempt to slow the virus’s spread. This report explores the pandemic’s impacts on mobility to and within Europe, its challenges to European solidarity, and lessons for future public-health crises.

Recent Activity

RefugeesinFYRM StephenRyanIFRC Flickr
Articles
September 24, 2015
Europe’s Migration Crisis in Context: Why Now and What Next?
By Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan and Susan Fratzke
EventPH 2015.9.18 HundredsofrefugeesandmigrantsaboardafishingboatarepicturedmomentsbeforebeingrescuebytheItalianNavy UNHCR
Multimedia
September 18, 2015
Simply No Consensus: Can The EU Respond to Continued Refugee Flows?
EventPH 2015.09.14 ExploringInnovativeIdeastoStrengthentheGlobal ProtectionSystem
Multimedia
September 14, 2015
Exploring Innovative Ideas to Strengthen the Global Protection System
SyrianGirl ADAmato UNHCR
Multimedia
September 11, 2015
The Refugee Crisis in Europe: Q&A with Demetrios Papademetriou
Commentaries
September 2015
The Asylum Crisis in Europe: Designed Dysfunction
By  Elizabeth Collett
LeePhelps MountainsofTirane Flickr
Articles
September 10, 2015
Embracing Emigration: The Migration-Development Nexus in Albania
By Kosta Barjaba and Joniada Barjaba
2013inauguration KarenAxelrad Flickr
Articles
July 29, 2015
Americans Abroad: A Disillusioned Diaspora?
By Amanda Klekowski von Koppenfels
AProtestoratEuromaidan IvanBandura Flickr
Articles
July 15, 2015
The EuroMaidan Protests, Corruption, and War in Ukraine: Migration Trends and Ambitions
By Franck Düvell and Irina Lapshyna

Pages

Feature
December 1, 2003
Austria Adopts More Restrictive Asylum Law
A new law passed by Austria could make it more difficult to seek asylum in Austria, according to Veysel Oezcan of Humboldt University Berlin.
md map
Profile
December 1, 2003
Moldova Seeks Stability Amid Mass Emigration
Moldova is a small country facing huge emigration spurred mainly by economic hardships, according to Michael Jandl.
Profile
November 1, 2003
Hungary: Transit Country Between East and West

Judit Juhasz of examines the forces that have made Hungary into a sending, transit, and destination country for migration.

Feature
November 1, 2003
Undocumented Immigration Haunts Italy's Ruling Coalition
Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is struggling to achieve consensus around stricter control of undocumented immigration, according to MPI's Ken Okoth.
Profile
November 1, 2003
Turkey: A Transformation from Emigration to Immigration

Long a country of emigration, immigration, and asylum, Turkey has also become a country of transit for immigrants, according to Kemal Kirisci of Boagazici University.

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Recent Activity

Reports
July 2018

A Needed Evidence Revolution: Using Cost-Benefit Analysis to Improve Refugee Integration Programming

European countries have ramped up their investments in helping refugees find work and integrate into society. Yet little hard evidence exists of what programs and policies work best. This report proposes a new framework for thinking smartly about integration programming, using cost-benefit analysis to look beyond short-term, economic outcomes to also measure indirect benefits through a social-value concept.

Reports
July 2018

The Impact of Populist Radical-Right Parties on Immigration Policy Agendas: A Look at the Netherlands

While commentators proclaimed the 2017 Dutch election results a rebuff of radical-right populism, this report makes clear that electoral success is not the only way to influence policymaking. Taking the Netherlands as a case study, it examines how radical-right parties in Western Europe have shaped immigration policy agendas and outcomes by rewriting narratives and forcing mainstream parties further to the right.

Reports
June 2018

The Growth of the Radical Right in Nordic Countries: Observations from the Past 20 Years

Though hardly new to most Nordic countries, radical-right parties have grown in popular support and political power in recent years. This report analyzes the role immigration has played in their rise and recent electoral fortunes in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. It also examines the strategies other parties have adopted in an attempt to limit their growth.

Reports
June 2018

After the Storm: Learning from the EU Response to the Migration Crisis

As maritime arrivals climbed in 2015, EU policymakers struggled to mount a coordinated response. A range of ad hoc crisis-response tools emerged, but many officials worry that if another migration emergency were to hit Europe, the European Union may still be unprepared. This report traces the evolution of the EU response to the 2015–16 crisis and lays out recommendations to lock in progress and shore up weaknesses.

Commentaries
June 2018

Europe Pushes to Outsource Asylum, Again

European leaders have settled on a recurring proposition to address the ongoing political crisis on migration: the creation of asylum processing centers beyond EU borders. The plans championed by various EU leaders are diverse, the details fuzzy. What they have in common is a near-universal focus on shifting responsibility for dealing with refugees and migrants upstream, as this commentary examines.

Commentaries
June 2018

Horst Seehofer’s Migration Plan for Germany: Another Nail in the Coffin of Europe’s Asylum System?

Amid significant tensions over migration that could fracture Chancellor Angela Merkel's governing coalition, a new "migration master plan" set to be unveiled by Interior Minister Horst Seehofer reportedly involves turning asylum seekers back at German borders and refusing them entry. This commentary explores the potential implications of the proposal, which has prompted concern about the ramifications for the Common European Asylum System.

Commentaries
May 2018

The New EU Migration-Related Fund Masks Deeper Questions over Policy Aims

The European Commission has proposed an 89.5 billion-euro fund to combat irregular migration by investing heavily in countries outside the European Union. This commentary argues the ultimate aims of the policy remain obscure, and with some of the money to be drawn from development aid funds is certain to raise tensions between institutions with conflicting goals and mandates.

Reports
May 2018

Social Innovation for Refugee Inclusion Conference Report: Maintaining Momentum and Creating Lasting Change

Fostering the social and economic inclusion of refugees has long been the domain of governments and NGOs. In the wake of the 2015–16 European migration and refugee crisis, however, new actors have emerged and taken on important roles in integrating newcomers. This report describes key discussions and takeaways from an MPI Europe conference on these developments.

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