E.g., 04/24/2024
E.g., 04/24/2024
European Union

European Union

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In the European Union, enlargement, special arrangements for the expansion of the Schengen Area, and the gradual development of a stronger EU role in immigration have added new complexity to the policy landscape, leading to both new patterns of movement and new policies for governing immigration from outside of the European Union's 27 Member States. The research offered here focuses on migration policies, trends, and common challenges that affect Europe at a supranational level—from free movement to asylum policy and the management of EU borders.

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Commentaries

One Phase Closes for the New Pact on Migration and Asylum. Now Another Begins

The New Pact on Migration and Asylum agreed in December 2023 by EU Member States and the European Parliament after lengthy negotiation will, without a doubt, go down in history as a signal political accomplishment. But will it result in better management of migration and asylum systems in a complex era? The outcome will turn on implementation and communication, this MPI Europe commentary explains.

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Policy Briefs

What Role Could Digital Technologies Play in the New EU Pact on Migration and Asylum?

With EU migration systems under strain, many observers have high hopes that the New Pact on Migration and Asylum will be able to help Europe address pressing challenges. This policy brief explores how digital technologies could support the implementation of the pact, should it be approved, as well as areas where caution is merited.

Recent Activity

Cover image for Using Risk Analysis to Shape Border Management
Reports
January 2023
Using Risk Analysis to Shape Border Management: A Review of Approaches during the COVID-19 Pandemic
By  Kelley Lee, Julianne Piper and Jennifer Fang
A migrant scheduled to be deported from the United States is escorted to a charter flight.
Articles
December 20, 2022
‘Recalcitrant’ and ‘Uncooperative’: Why Some Countries Refuse to Accept Return of Their Deportees
By Erlend Paasche
Multimedia
December 15, 2022
A Century of Climate Migration Upheaval? An Audacious Prediction for the Future
Multimedia
December 13, 2022
The Ukrainian Displacement Crisis: A Conversation with the European Commission's Director General for Migration and Home Affairs
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Reports
October 2022
Rebooting the Asylum System? The Role of Digital Tools in International Protection
By  Hanne Beirens
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Policy Briefs
October 2022
Promoting Evidence-Informed Immigrant Integration Policymaking
By  Jasmijn Slootjes and Maria Belen Zanzuchi
A man presents cash inside a passport
Articles
October 5, 2022
Rollback of 'Golden Passports' Shows Their Elusive Shine
By Jelena Džankić
Image of women and young children from Ukraine arriving at train station in Bucharest
Commentaries
October 2022
Why the European Labor Market Integration of Displaced Ukrainians Is Defying Expectations
By  Maria Vincenza Desiderio and Kate Hooper

Pages

Cover image for Putting Migrant Reintegration Programs to the Test: A Road Map to a Monitoring System
Reports
January 2022
Putting Migrant Reintegration Programs to the Test: A Road Map to a Monitoring System
By  Lucía Salgado, Radu-Mihai Triculescu, Camille Le Coz and Hanne Beirens
Cover image for How Can Europe Deliver on the Potential of Talent Partnerships?
Policy Briefs
December 2021
How Can Europe Deliver on the Potential of Talent Partnerships?
By  Kate Hooper
Cover image for "Diversifying" Social Investment: European Welfare States and Immigrant Integration in the Wake of the COVID-19 Crisis
Reports
September 2021
"Diversifying" Social Investment: European Welfare States and Immigrant Integration in the Wake of the COVID-19 Crisis
By  Anton Hemerijck and Liam Patuzzi
Cover image for Taking the Long View: Options for Inclusive Post-Pandemic Labor Markets
Reports
August 2021
Taking the Long View: Options for Inclusive Post-Pandemic Labor Markets
By  Liam Patuzzi
Cover image for Future Scenarios for Global Mobility in the Shadow of Pandemic
Reports
July 2021
Future Scenarios for Global Mobility in the Shadow of Pandemic
By  Meghan Benton
Cover image for EU Strategy on Voluntary Return and Reintegration: Crafting a Road Map to Better Cooperation with Migrants’ Countries of Origin
Policy Briefs
May 2021
EU Strategy on Voluntary Return and Reintegration: Crafting a Road Map to Better Cooperation with Migrants’ Countries of Origin
By  Camille Le Coz
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Reports
April 2021
COVID-19 and the State of Global Mobility in 2020
By  Meghan Benton, Jeanne Batalova, Samuel Davidoff-Gore and Timo Schmidt
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Policy Briefs
February 2021
COVID-19 and the Demand for Labor and Skills in Europe: Early Evidence and Implications for Migration Policy
By  Terence Hogarth

Pages

A family from Syria walks through the town of Wächtersbach, Germany, where they now live.
Feature
January 7, 2021
Faith and Mental Health Help Shape the Integration of Muslim Refugees in Germany

Faith plays a significant role in the mental health and social integration of refugees and asylum seekers. Yet in Germany, concerns about Islam and migrants from Muslim-majority countries have complicated social cohesion efforts, particularly in the wake of the 2015-16 refugee and migration crisis.

Sailors and marines on the HMS Bulwark help migrants ashore in Italy.
Feature
October 9, 2020
Criminalization of Search-and-Rescue Operations in the Mediterranean Has Been Accompanied by Rising Migrant Death Rate

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.

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Feature
September 25, 2020
Greece Struggles to Balance Competing Migration Demands

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.
Feature
August 25, 2020
Southeastern Europe Looks to Engage its Diaspora to Offset the Impact of Depopulation

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
Feature
August 6, 2020
Once a Destination for Migrants, Post-Gaddafi Libya Has Gone from Transit Route to Containment

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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Commentaries
February 2017
New EU Partnerships in North Africa: Potential to Backfire?
By  Elizabeth Collett
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Commentaries
June 2016
Blue Card Redux: European Commission Plan to Recast Work Permit for Highly Skilled Holds Question Marks
By  Maria Vincenza Desiderio
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Commentaries
June 2016
When the Dust Settles: Migration Policy after Brexit
By  Will Somerville
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Commentaries
April 2016
Children: The Forgotten Aspect of the EU-Turkey Deal
By  Hanne Beirens and Paul Clewett
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Commentaries
March 2016
The Paradox of the EU-Turkey Refugee Deal
By  Elizabeth Collett
Commentaries
September 2015
The Asylum Crisis in Europe: Designed Dysfunction
By  Elizabeth Collett
UNHCR 15817431431 Ad'Amato Eritreans
Commentaries
March 2015
The Potential and Pitfalls of Extraterritorial Processing of Asylum Claims
By  Madeline Garlick
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Commentaries
December 2014
Protection at Sea: Addressing Irregular Maritime Migration
By  Kathleen Newland
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Commentaries
July 2014
The EU’s Strategic Guidelines on Migration: Uncontentious Consensus, But Missed Opportunity
By  Elizabeth Collett
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Commentaries
July 2014
An EU Commissioner for Migration? The Devil is in the Details
By  Elizabeth Collett

Pages

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Video, Audio
February 5, 2021

A Way Forward on Migration Under the Portuguese Presidency of the European Union?

With Portugal assuming the EU Presidency in January 2021 and prioritizing progress on the EU Migration and Asylum Pact, this webinar features senior officials from the European Union, Germany (the last holder of the presidency), and Portugal to take stock of where conversations on the pact stand and Portugal’s plans for taking forward the negotiations. 

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Video, Audio
November 18, 2020

Welfare States and Migration: How Will the Pandemic Reshape a Complex Relationship?

This MPI Europe webinar reflects on the implications of this current moment for European economies and societies and the role of immigration and immigrant integration policy, and highlight research from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre on the fiscal and demographic impacts of migration.

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Video, Audio
October 22, 2020

COVID-19, the Withdrawal Agreement and Citizens' Rights: No Time to Waste

This webinar explores how governments’ implementation plans for the Brexit withdrawal agreement have been affected by COVID-19, and the potential implications for citizens’ rights at the end of the transition period and beyond.

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Expert Q&A, Audio
October 6, 2020

Is Airport COVID-19 Testing Ready for Takeoff?

Austria’s Vienna airport was an early adopter for in-airport COVID-19 tests, with results turned around within a few hours, sparing those with medical certificates from a mandatory 14-day quarantine. Can this serve as a model for restarting business travel and tourism? In this episode of our Moving Beyond Pandemic podcast, we talk to Vienna airport official Peter Kleemann to learn more.

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Video, Audio
June 25, 2020

Rethinking and Restarting: What Should the Returns Process Look Like Post-Pandemic?

This MPI Europe webinar showcases speakers from Belgium's Fedasil, the French Office of Immigration and Integration, and IOM discussing the counselling of (potential) returnees to increase the uptake of voluntary return—a return option that is generally seen as more humanitarian, practical, and less expensive.

Pages

Recent Activity

Articles
August 6, 2020

Once a Destination for Migrants, Post-Gaddafi Libya Has Gone from Transit Route to Containment

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.

Commentaries
August 2020

When Emergency Measures Become the Norm: Post-Coronavirus Prospects for the Schengen Zone

Most EU Member States closed their borders to travel from neighboring countries in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic. While internal borders in the Schengen zone largely reopened in time for summer holidays, there is a lingering sense they could snap shut anew. Though the reflexive introduction of border controls speaks to an inherent lack of trust between states, the 2015-16 migration crisis offers lessons on how to begin to rebuild trust, as this commentary explores.

Video, Audio, Webinars
June 25, 2020

Rethinking and Restarting: What Should the Returns Process Look Like Post-Pandemic?

This MPI Europe webinar showcases speakers from Belgium's Fedasil, the French Office of Immigration and Integration, and IOM discussing the counselling of (potential) returnees to increase the uptake of voluntary return—a return option that is generally seen as more humanitarian, practical, and less expensive.

Reports
June 2020

Using Evidence to Improve Refugee Resettlement: A Monitoring and Evaluation Road Map

There has been a flurry of activity around refugee resettlement in recent years, with countries in Europe and elsewhere piloting or scaling up operations. To support the sustainability of these programs, particularly in light of the hiatus forced by the COVID-19 pandemic, strong evidence of what works and under what conditions is essential. This report explores how countries can launch or expand their monitoring and evaluation (M&E) activities, and the value this can bring.

Reports
May 2020

European Cities on the Front Line: New and Emerging Governance Models for Migrant Inclusion

As migration transforms cities across Europe—both large metropolises and small cities—there is a thriving debate about how to support immigrants’ integration into communities, labor markets, and health and education systems. This MPI Europe-International Organization for Migration report explores promising approaches that make the most of local governance tools to optimize migrant inclusion, even in the face of challenges.

Articles
May 1, 2020

Under Lockdown Amid COVID-19 Pandemic, Europe Feels the Pinch from Slowed Intra-EU Labor Mobility

Border closures and lockdowns amid the COVID-19 pandemic have put a chill on intra-EU labor mobility, most immediately with the difficulty for European farmers to gain access to much-needed seasonal workers and for health-care institutions to get care workers. This article explores how these workers, who often face difficult situations, may be more vulnerable now. It also takes on implications for intra-EU labor mobility post-pandemic.

Commentaries
April 2020

The COVID-19 Pandemic Suggests the Lessons Learned by European Asylum Policymakers After the 2015 Migration Crisis Are Fading

As European asylum systems are tested again by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has injected the need for social distancing during processing and in reception centers, it appears lessons learned during the 2015-16 migration and refugee crisis may be fading. Chief among them: A number of Member States have phased out their buffer capacity. This MPI Europe commentary explores the diametrically different approaches taken to asylum during the pandemic.

Audio, Webinars
April 8, 2020

Humanitarian Protection in an Era of Pandemic

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.
 

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