Europe’s Disappearing Internal Borders
By Hiroyuki Tanaka and Trinidad Macias
Fact Sheet No. 20, December 2007
The Schengen Area allows European Union citizens and third-country nationals in 15 Schengen Member States to, in almost all cases, travel freely to another Schengen Member State. On December 21, 2007, the Schengen Area will enlarge to include nine of the 10 countries that entered the European Union in 2004. This MPI fact sheet provides 10 key facts about the expanding Schengen Area.
Fact Sheet | Press Release

Integrating Islam: A New Chapter in “Church-State” Relations
By Jonathan Laurence, Boston College, October 2007
With at least 15 million Muslims now residing in Europe, Islam is Europe’s second largest religion. A new report provides a roadmap for how European governments can best engage Muslim communities on issues related to religious practice and integration. The primary challenges for European governments are to safeguard religious freedoms and to ensure a voice for Muslim populations, while combating extremism and adapting European societies to diverse religious communities. Drawing on examples from throughout the European Union, the report provides a framework for establishing dialogues that can play a critical role in integrating newcomers of various faiths, many of whom still have foreign nationality.
Full Report | Press Release

Alien nation
Public concern over immigration made it a policy priority for Tony Blair. But will Gordon Brown rewrite the script?
By Will Somerville
Op-Ed in The Guardian (UK), September 26, 2007

The children that Europe forgot
By Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Werner Weidenfeld,
Co-Chairs, Transatlantic Task Force on Immigration and Integration
Op-Ed in the European Voice, September 20, 2007

Immigration under New Labour
By Will Somerville
Book published by The Policy Press, September 2007
This new book chronicles the transformation of Britain from a country of “uncertain backward-looking” immigration policies to a “veritable hotbed of policy innovation.” Will Somerville explores both how Britain has developed new economic migration policies, making it a top global competitor for skilled migrants and foreign students, and how a more restrictive approach to asylum seekers has been adopted. He also describes the new integration tools and security measures, central to the new immigration policy, and how institutional changes, including the establishment of a new Border and Immigration Agency, have helped deliver policies.
Press Release | Preface by MPI President Demetrios Papademetriou

Gaining from Migration: Towards a New Mobility System
Lead written by Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Gregory A. Maniatis
OECD Report, September 2007
A functioning migration system in Europe must treat sending and transit countries as genuine partners. The report recommends that EU policymakers forego restrictive rhetoric and instead create more legal channels and flexible options for immigrants’ entry and stay to attract workers in industries that most need them. At the same time, and in recognition of the fact that immigration cannot succeed unless immigrants integrate successfully, European countries must become more flexible in giving immigrants access to their labor markets and political systems. 
Full Report | Executive Summary | Press Release

New Policy Solutions for Closing Educational Gaps for Immigrant Children
Three September 2007 studies present policymakers with ideas for how best to close achievement gaps between native-born students and immigrant students or the children of immigrants across European countries.

Early Education for Immigrant Children
By Paul Leseman, Utrecht University
Dr. Leseman looks at factors that create educational disadvantages among children of immigrants, including socioeconomic and psychological risks and lack of cognitive stimulation at home. He finds that while early education can improve the educational and socioeconomic position of low-income and minority communities, the program’s design is fundamental to its success. He recommends that policymakers focus on providing center-based care, with programs grounded in teaching children the host language and with strong outreach to minorities that includes additional help for parents. He also recommends that governments directly subsidize early-education programs rather than providing parents with vouchers, which can be confusing and are underused.

Pathways to Success for the Children of Immigrants
By Maurice Crul, University of Amsterdam
Dr. Crul looks at how the children of Turkish immigrants, the largest immigrant group in Europe, are faring across the continent. He finds disparities across countries in the age at which children start school, the number who drop out of secondary school, and the number of youth who are unemployed. He notes that, because immigrant students tend to start school at a linguistic and cultural disadvantage, compelling them to choose either an academic or vocational education “track” too early may relegate them to a less enriching education. Dr. Crul suggests a range of policy tools to avoid this outcome, such as establishing strong apprenticeship programs and allowing vocational students to switch back to academic schools if they show the potential to succeed.

Language Policies and Practices for Helping Immigrants and Second-Generation Students Succeed
By Gayle Christensen, Urban Institute, and Petra Stanat, Free University of Berlin
Drs. Christensen and Stanat draw on the results of a unique survey of school language policies and practices to close the achievement gap in 14 immigrant-receiving countries. The authors find that countries where immigrant and second-generation students succeed tend to have long-standing language support programs, for both primary and secondary students, with clearly defined goals and standards. The authors highlight Sweden; Victoria, Australia; and British Columbia, Canada, as places with smaller achievement gaps between native-born and immigrant students. These programs’ common strategies include centrally developed curricula, high program standards, time-intensive programs, support in both primary and secondary school, second-language teachers who have received specialized training, and cooperation between language and other teachers.

Demetrios G. Papademetriou
President of the Migration Policy Institute

Gregory A. Maniatis
Senior European Policy Fellow

William Somerville
Senior Policy Analyst

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MPI’s international practice has a regional and a transatlantic dimension. The first focuses on North America, where MPI works closely with Canada, Mexico, and other countries to foster more thoughtful and effective national and regional migration policies. The second concentrates on Europe, seeking to build a comprehensive approach to migration and integration—and doing so increasingly through a transatlantic lens.

Specifically, MPI works closely with the European Union (EU) and its Member States to develop evidence-based approaches to managing migration. Among the most prominent areas of MPI’s European practice are the design of labor-migration policies that respond to variable and shifting economic needs; the integration of immigrants; and the development of “smarter” borders that can distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate travelers and goods.

At the request of several recent EU Presidencies, the European Commission, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the European Parliament, MPI has helped to develop and advance many of the policies that comprise the EU’s emerging legislative framework for migration and integration.

MPI Partnerships with EU Presidencies in 2007

Throughout 2007, MPI is working closely with Germany and Portugal, which this year hold the rotating Presidency of the European Union.

MPI is currently working with the Portuguese EU Presidency to develop ideas on how to make immigration and integration policies more successful, focusing especially on attracting a skilled immigrant workforce; promoting the fuller economic participation of immigrants and greater mutual engagement between a society’s majority population and more recent ethnic and immigrant groups; enhancing and streamling citizenship policies; and reinvigorating intercultural dialogue. In the context of this partnership, MPI is drawing on the analysis and recommendations of top migration experts, policymakers, and opinion shapers on both sides of the Atlantic.

Transatlantic Dialogue

With support from the European Commission, MPI is leading a Transatlantic Dialogue on two key issues: integration and Islam, and border security. Leading practitioners and scholars are exploring these issues during a series of workshops in Europe and the United States. MPI will publish comparative reports on these Dialogues in its fast expanding library of publications on European and Transatlantic topics.

Transatlantic Task Force on Immigration and Integration
MPI has convened a task force to promote thoughtful immigration policies and assess and respond to the profound challenges of integrating immigrants and building stronger communities on both sides of the Atlantic. It addresses its recommendations to European Union institutions and Member State governments, the governments of the United States and Canada, and state and local governments and civil society everywhere.

The Task Force is composed of prominent political and business leaders from both sides of the Atlantic.

In its initial stages, the Task Force is focusing its work on creating greater openings to legal migration, as well as on education, workplace integration, and the political and civic participation of immigrants. Special attention is being paid to the descendants of immigrants and to the role of religion and gender in integration. MPI's co-convener and principal partner in the project is Germany’s Bertelsmann Stiftung, although the Task Force also is receiving substantial support from the Luso-American Foundation, an MPI strategic partner in parts of its European work, the Niarchos Foundation, the Hellenic Institute for Migration Policy, the Government of Canada, and other funders.

Read more about the task force.

More on MPI's policy research...

Immigration and Belgium's Far-Right Parties
Migration Information Source, June 2007
Vlaams Belang, a far-right party known for its nationalism and anti-immigrant position, lost one seat in Belgium's parliament in the June 10 national elections. Laura Barker examines the party's use of the immigration issue and reactions to its politics.


European Country Profiles
As the main arbiters of where, when, and how people may cross borders, individual countries still hold many of the keys to the immigration and integration trajectories of increasingly diverse flows of migrants. The Source has profiles of 25 countries in Europe.

European Country & Comparative Data
Select a country below to view stock, flow, net migration, asylum, and naturalization data over time.

European Immigration and the Labor Market
By Walter Nonneman, University of Antwerp
July 2007

In a new MPI report, Walter Nonneman finds that structural employment in the EU has little to do with immigration. Rather, it is related to factors including excessive regulation, EU worker immobility promoted by the welfare system and other policy measures, and agreements between employers’ organizations and labor unions that set wages. Dr. Nonneman finds that immigrants and non-EU citizens add needed flexibility to the European labor market and promote economic growth. He recommends that rather than relying on a closed-door approach to immigration, policymakers should undertake labor market and social security reforms.
Download PDF | Learn more about the Transatlantic Task Force.

Tony Blair's Legacy on Immigration: The Migration Information Source Takes a First Look at a Ten-Year Transformation
By William Somerville
Migration Information Source, May 2007

With Prime Minister Tony Blair's announcement of his resignation, he leaves behind a fundamentally reshaped immigration system. In fact, the number of immigration-related laws and policies instituted during his ten-year tenure surpasses that of every other social policy area. MPI Senior Policy Analyst William Somerville provides a timeline of these legislative changes and a first analysis of their significance.

More MPI publications on European migration management...

Lessons from Europe? Immigration Policy and the Labor Market
March 8, 2007
Book discussion with Dr. Klaus F. Zimmermann, IZA Director; Dr. Holger Bonin, IZA Senior Research Associate; and Demetrios Papademetriou, MPI President 

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