E.g., 03/09/2021
E.g., 03/09/2021

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.

A woman looks out over tents being used by migrants and asylum seekers on the Greek island of Lesvos
Articles

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.

Castle Square in Warsaw, Poland
Reports

Driving Migrant Inclusion through Social Innovation: Lessons for Cities in a Pandemic

Since COVID-19 hit cities across Europe, many have struggled with how to sustain support for migrant inclusion in a time of social-distancing orders and likely budget cuts. This report explores how municipalities and their partners used social innovation to meet the challenges of the 2015–16 spike in arrivals of asylum seekers and migrants, and how those experiences can help localities weather the pandemic and put communities at the center of recovery efforts.

Recent Activity

Reports
August 2014
The Human-Capital Needs of Tech City, London
By  Max Nathan
Reports
July 2014
Advancing Outcomes for All Minorities: Experiences of Mainstreaming Immigrant Integration Policy in the United Kingdom
By  Sundas Ali and Ben Gidley
Ankara
Articles
July 24, 2014
Turkey’s Evolving Migration Identity
By Rebecca Kilberg
Download Report
Reports
July 2014
Migration’s Local Dividends: How Cities and Regions Can Make the Most of Immigration (Transatlantic Council Statement)
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou
Commentaries
July 2014
An EU Commissioner for Migration? The Devil is in the Details
By  Elizabeth Collett
Reports
July 2014
Moving Up or Standing Still? Access to Middle-Skilled Work for Newly Arrived Migrants in the European Union
By  Meghan Benton, Susan Fratzke and Madeleine Sumption
Commentaries
July 2014
The EU’s Strategic Guidelines on Migration: Uncontentious Consensus, But Missed Opportunity
By  Elizabeth Collett
Multimedia
June 18, 2014
Has EU Immigration and Asylum Policy Failed? Can It Ever Succeed?

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Profile
July 1, 2004
Germany: Immigration in Transition

Since the 1990s, analysts have pointed to Germany's ongoing need for immigrants to bolster economic development and maintain a dynamic workforce, given the rapid aging of the country's population. However, a process of policy review that began in 2001 with a government commission's report on immigration and integration policy only recently overcame legislative gridlock.

Feature
June 1, 2004
The Changing Mosaic of Mediterranean Migrations

Martin Baldwin-Edwards of Panteion University examines new trends in the long-established phenomenon of migration within the Mediterranean basin.

Profile
June 1, 2004
Greece: A History of Migration
Greece, once known for outward migration, has become a receiver of migrants and a permanent immigrant destination according to Charalambos Kasimis and Chryssa Kassimi.
Feature
May 1, 2004
EU Enlargement and the Limits of Freedom
Joanne van Selm and Eleni Tsokalis of MPI look at the challenges ahead as 10 new states join the European Union.
Feature
April 1, 2004
EU Sees Sharp Drop in Asylum Applications
Countries in the European Union received fewer asylum applications in 2003, according to Veysel Oezcan of the Social Science Research Center Berlin.

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Recent Activity

Reports
August 2014

The Human-Capital Needs of Tech City, London

This report analyzes the importance of human capital to the development of London's Tech City and sets this discussion in a broader framework linking cities, digital sectors, and highly skilled immigration. Skilled migrants can play critical roles in economic development in high-tech clusters, but policies sometimes make it difficult for firms to make the most of immigration.
Reports
July 2014

Advancing Outcomes for All Minorities: Experiences of Mainstreaming Immigrant Integration Policy in the United Kingdom

This report explores the accelerating trend in the United Kingdom of mainstreaming of immigrant integration, in which policymakers seek to reach people with a migration background through needs-based social programming and policies that also target the general population. The report has particular focus on policies and programs used in London and Glasgow.
Articles
July 24, 2014

Turkey’s Evolving Migration Identity

Turkey’s migration identity has shifted from being principally a country of emigration and transit to becoming a destination for immigrants and people fleeing conflict. In response, Turkish policymakers recently enacted a comprehensive migration and asylum law that took effect in April 2014. This article examines the new law, which is intended as a significant step toward managing both legal and irregular migration to Turkey, including humanitarian migration.

Reports
July 2014

Migration’s Local Dividends: How Cities and Regions Can Make the Most of Immigration (Transatlantic Council Statement)

While cities and regions experience both the positive and negative effects of immigration firsthand, they are typically at arm’s length, at best, from the policy reins that enable and shape these movements. Immigration policies are rarely calibrated to regional, let alone local, needs. This Transatlantic Council on Migration Statement examines how policymakers at all levels can work together to get more out of immigration.

Commentaries
July 2014

An EU Commissioner for Migration? The Devil is in the Details

In the coming weeks, the President-Elect of the European Commission and leaders of the European Union will discuss the new institutional map of the European Union, including new portfolios for the incoming college of Commissioners. Despite the fact that immigration is a critical challenge for the European Union, it has become harder for EU institutions to forge a strong policy. Perhaps as a result of this disconnect, one of the key ideas on the table is to create a Commissioner for Migration.

Reports
July 2014

Moving Up or Standing Still? Access to Middle-Skilled Work for Newly Arrived Migrants in the European Union

The global economic crisis and changing migration patterns in Europe bring up questions about how well immigrants are able to find employment and progress into better jobs over time. This overview report caps a series of six country case studies evaluating the employment outcomes for foreign-born workers during their first decade in the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
Commentaries
July 2014

The EU’s Strategic Guidelines on Migration: Uncontentious Consensus, But Missed Opportunity

The European Council's new strategic guidelines, which set the pathway for future policy development in the area of Justice and Home Affairs in the coming years, seem unfeasibly insulated from today's migration and asylum realities and challenges confronting the European Union. The draft represents a missed opportunity to lead EU heads of state forward on critical issues in this area, MPI Europe's Director writes in this commentary.
Audio, Webinars
June 18, 2014

Has EU Immigration and Asylum Policy Failed? Can It Ever Succeed?

This MPI Europe telebriefing, releasing the brief "Strengthening Refugee Protection and Meeting Challenges: The European Union’s Next Steps on Asylum," examines Europe's current reality with respect to migration and asylum and assesses the possibilities for future development of EU immigration policy.

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