E.g., 01/16/2021
E.g., 01/16/2021

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

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
Articles
September 10, 2015
Embracing Emigration: The Migration-Development Nexus in Albania
By Kosta Barjaba and Joniada Barjaba
Articles
July 29, 2015
Americans Abroad: A Disillusioned Diaspora?
By Amanda Klekowski von Koppenfels
Articles
July 15, 2015
The EuroMaidan Protests, Corruption, and War in Ukraine: Migration Trends and Ambitions
By Franck Düvell and Irina Lapshyna
Multimedia
July 8, 2015
Addressing Crisis at Europe’s Borders: Are Policymakers Moving in the Right Direction?
Multimedia
June 18, 2015
Rethinking Integration for the Age of Superdiversity: How to Adapt Public Services?
Reports
June 2015
Into the Mainstream: Rethinking Public Services for Diverse and Mobile Populations
By  Meghan Benton, Helen McCarthy and Elizabeth Collett

Pages

Reports
October 2007
Room for Progress: Reinventing Euro-Atlantic Borders for a New Strategic Environment
By  Deborah W. Meyers, Rey Koslowski and Susan Ginsburg
Reports
October 2007
Integrating Islam: A New Chapter in 'Church-State' Relations
By  Jonathan Laurence
Policy Briefs
September 2007
Pathways to Success for the Children of Immigrants
By  Maurice Crul
Reports
September 2007
Early Education for Immigrant Children
By  Paul Leseman
Policy Briefs
September 2007
Language Policies and Practices for Helping Immigrants and Second-Generation Students Succeed
By  Gayle Christensen and Petra Stanat
Reports
September 2007
Gaining from Migration: Towards a New Mobility System
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Gregory A. Maniatis
Reports
July 2007
European Immigration and the Labor Market
By  Walter Nonneman
Policy Briefs
June 2007
Leveraging Remittances for Development
By  Dilip Ratha

Pages

Feature
April 1, 2007
Pathways to Success for the Second Generation in Europe

There is an ongoing debate over the children born to Europe's guest workers of the 1960s and 1970s: Can they move up the educational ladder, or will they form a new underclass in Europe's largest cities? Maurice Crul of the University of Amsterdam compares outcomes for second-generation Turkish children across five countries.

Profile
March 1, 2007
Immigration in Luxembourg: New Challenges for an Old Country
Luxembourg's stable, prosperous economy would not be possible without foreign workers, most of whom come from other EU countries. But this small country has also struggled to cope with asylum seekers from the former Yugoslavia and to integrate children of immigrants, as Serge Kollwelter explains.
Feature
January 1, 2007
EU Enlargement in 2007: No Warm Welcome for Labor Migrants

The addition of Romania and Bulgaria to the European Union means another round of anxieties about labor migrants. Catherine Drew and Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah of the Institute for Public Policy Research in London explain how this enlargement is different from the historic one in 2004 and why most EU Member States favor temporary restriction.

Top Ten
December 1, 2006
Good-bye Multiculturalism -- Hello Assimilation?

Multiculturalism was supposed to be the ideal middle ground where immigrants could adapt to a country's norms and values while maintaining their culture and traditions. Today, different countries are trying to find the right "mode" of conversation with immigrants and where within the society to have that conversation.

Top Ten
December 1, 2006
All about the Border

The border between the U.S. and Mexico and the water dividing Europe and North Africa continue to be the world's main fronts in the fight against illegal immigration.

Pages

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Recent Activity

Video, Expert Q&A
September 11, 2015

The Refugee Crisis in Europe: Q&A with Demetrios Papademetriou

Demetrios Papademetriou, President Emeritus of MPI and President of MPI Europe, explains the origins of the refugee crisis in Europe and discusses actions that Europe and other regions can take in the near and long term to address the flows.

Commentaries
September 2015

The Asylum Crisis in Europe: Designed Dysfunction

The ongoing chaos being seen in Southeast Europe, as countries grapple with massive inflows of asylum seekers from Syria, Iraq, and elsewhere have laid bare the unresolved dysfunctions of incomplete European Union systems, as this commentary from MPI Europe's director explains. The proposal for relocation of 160,000 asylum seekers and other announced measures are a necessary stopgap, but far from an enduring solution.

Articles
September 10, 2015

Embracing Emigration: The Migration-Development Nexus in Albania

From ongoing emigration flows and a surge in asylum seekers, to more than 150,000 returnees, this country profile examines contemporary and historical migration trends in Albania. Driven by extreme poverty and unemployment, more than one-third of Albania's population has emigrated in the last 25 years. The government now seeks to capitalize on diaspora resources by linking migration and development policies.

Articles
July 29, 2015

Americans Abroad: A Disillusioned Diaspora?

While many countries are increasing engagement with their diasporas, U.S. policy has chiefly focused on U.S.-based diasporas from other countries, despite its own estimated overseas population of 7.6 million. This feature explores results from a survey of more than 1,400 U.S. citizens and 140 former citizens living abroad, many of whom are critical of limited U.S. government engagement with them even as restrictive financial reporting regulations have been imposed.
Articles
July 15, 2015

The EuroMaidan Protests, Corruption, and War in Ukraine: Migration Trends and Ambitions

Public frustration with decades of poor governance and pervasive corruption in Ukraine culminated in the EuroMaidan revolution in November 2013. Since then, violent conflict and Russia's annexation of Crimea have displaced an estimated 2 million people, both internally and internationally. This feature article explores migration ambitions among Ukrainians in the lead-up and aftermath of EuroMaidan, and the impact of war and economic crisis on traditional migration patterns.
Audio
July 8, 2015

Addressing Crisis at Europe’s Borders: Are Policymakers Moving in the Right Direction?

This teleconference, the first in a series from MPI Europe on the future of asylum policy in the European Union, focuses on the politics and mechanics of asylum seeker relocation and whether a recent contentious European Summit represents a new phase of intra-EU cooperation on asylum.

Video, Audio
June 18, 2015

Rethinking Integration for the Age of Superdiversity: How to Adapt Public Services?

Covering the findings of the UPSTREAM project, this MPI Europe event explores how a coordinated approach to integration may create more effective and inclusive approaches to diversity across the policy-making spectrum.

Reports
June 2015

Into the Mainstream: Rethinking Public Services for Diverse and Mobile Populations

Despite the broad appeal of the concept of "mainstreaming" in integration policy in Europe, few agree on its exact meaning. This report synthesizes the findings of the UPSTREAM project's country case studies, which examined the extent to which governments in France, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom are employing mainstreaming to meet the needs of rapidly diversifying populations.

Pages