E.g., 01/17/2021
E.g., 01/17/2021

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

Articles
June 10, 2015
Integration Key to Combating Radicalization: A Q&A with Solveig Horne, Norwegian Minister of Children, Equality, and Social Inclusion
By Zara Rabinovitch
Reports
May 2015
Before the Boat: Understanding the Migrant Journey
By  Jacob Townsend and Christel Oomen
Reports
April 2015
Syrian Refugees in Turkey: The Long Road Ahead
By  Ahmet İçduygu
Articles
April 15, 2015
EU Dublin Asylum System Faces Uncertain Future after Ruling in Afghan Family’s Case
By Madeline Garlick and Susan Fratzke
Articles
April 2, 2015
Assessing the Political Impact of Immigration as the United Kingdom Heads to the Polls
By Will Somerville
Commentaries
March 2015
The Potential and Pitfalls of Extraterritorial Processing of Asylum Claims
By  Madeline Garlick
Policy Briefs
March 2015
The Development of EU Policy on Immigration and Asylum: Rethinking Coordination and Leadership
By  Elizabeth Collett
Reports
March 2015
Not Adding Up: The Fading Promise of Europe's Dublin System
By  Susan Fratzke

Pages

Policy Briefs
May 2007
Immigration and the 2007 French Elections
By  Hiroyuki Tanaka
Policy Briefs
April 2007
Circular Migration and Development: Trends, Policy Routes, and Ways Forward
By  Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza and Kathleen Newland
Reports
September 2006
Remittances and Development: Trends, Impacts, and Policy Options, A Review of the Literature
By  Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza
Reports
September 2006
From A Zero-Sum to a Win-Win Scenario? Literature Review on Circular Migration
By  Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza
Books
May 2006
Europe and Its Immigrants in the 21st Century: A New Deal or a Continuing Dialogue of the Deaf?
Reports
January 2006
The New 'Boat People': Ensuring Safety and Determining Status
By  Joanne van Selm and Betsy Cooper
Books
October 2005
Managing Integration: The European Union’s Responsibilities Towards Immigrants
Policy Briefs
September 2005
The 'Regularization' Option in Managing Illegal Migration More Effectively: A Comparative Perspective
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou

Pages

Feature
November 1, 2006
Migrations Transsahariennes vers l'Afrique du Nord et l'UE: Origines Historiques et Tendances Actuelles

L'Europe du Sud connaît trop bien la migration irrégulière à partir des pays de l'Afrique du Nord comme le Maroc, l'Algérie et la Tunisie. Depuis le début des années 1990, de milliers de nord-africains ont tenté de traverser la Méditerranée afin d'atteindre l'Espagne et l'Italie.

Feature
November 1, 2006
France's New Law: Control Immigration Flows, Court the Highly Skilled

After years of debate, French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy succeeded in passing a law that he argues will finally allow the government to control immigration. MPI's Kara Murphy looks at the law's main objectives.

Profile
November 1, 2006
Denmark: Integrating Immigrants into a Homogeneous Welfare State
As Ulf Hedetoft of Aalborg University and the Academy for Migration Studies in Denmark explains, the question of how to handle cultural and religious differences has come to dominate the Danish political agenda.
Feature
November 1, 2006
Trans-Saharan Migration to North Africa and the EU: Historical Roots and Current Trends

Sub-Saharan Africans are increasingly migrating to North African countries, with some using the region as a point of transit to Europe and some remaining in North Africa. Hein de Haas of the University of Oxford examines the the region’s migration trends.

Profile
June 1, 2006
Sweden: Restrictive Immigration Policy and Multiculturalism
Although Sweden was once open to labor migrants from across Europe and refugees from all over the world, its policies have become increasingly restrictive over the last 35 years. Today, the country is wrestling with integration issues, as Charles Westin of the Centre for Research in International Migration and Ethnic Relations, Stockholm University, explains.

Pages

archive >

Recent Activity

Articles
June 10, 2015

Integration Key to Combating Radicalization: A Q&A with Solveig Horne, Norwegian Minister of Children, Equality, and Social Inclusion

With rising inflows of humanitarian and economic migrants, Norway faces a series of integration challenges. In conversation with the Migration Information Source, Solveig Horne, Norway's Minister of Children, Equality, and Social Inclusion discusses her work on integration policy, from the importance of language training and a feeling of belonging, to the protection of immigrant women and resettlement of asylum seekers.
Reports
May 2015

Before the Boat: Understanding the Migrant Journey

The limited knowledge base on migrants' decision-making and assessment of risk on the journey to Europe, as well as incomplete understanding of the organizational structures and political economies of smuggling networks, are hampering an effective response to unprecedented Mediterranean maritime crossings. This report, drawing from interviews with migrants, examines migrants’ decision-making processes, perceptions of risk, and access to information.

Reports
April 2015

Syrian Refugees in Turkey: The Long Road Ahead

More than 1.7 million Syrian refugees lived in Turkey as of mid-March 2015, making this the world's largest community of Syrians displaced by the conflict in their country. This report provides an overview of Turkey's changing migration landscape and the position of Syrian refugees in Turkey today, along with policy recommendations given the likelihood of long-term or permanent displacement for Syrians.
Articles
April 15, 2015

EU Dublin Asylum System Faces Uncertain Future after Ruling in Afghan Family’s Case

The European Court of Human Right's ruling on the transfer of a family of Afghan asylum seekers from Switzerland to Italy has struck a potentially fatal blow to the European Union's Dublin asylum system. Against a backdrop of pressures on EU Member States in the humanitarian protection realm, this article assesses the impact of the ruling and reevaluates the viability of the Dublin Regulation as a key tool in the Common European Asylum System.
Articles
April 2, 2015

Assessing the Political Impact of Immigration as the United Kingdom Heads to the Polls

The United Kingdom has faced changing immigration patterns over the last two decades driven largely by EU migration, and political upheaval caused by the rise of the United Kingdom Independence Party and the Scottish National Party. Upcoming general elections in May 2015 will have a significant impact not only on immigration policies but the United Kingdom's place in the European Union.
Commentaries
March 2015

The Potential and Pitfalls of Extraterritorial Processing of Asylum Claims

Much attention has focused recently on the possibility of the European Union establishing processing centers in North Africa or elsewhere to manage asylum seekers and migrants traveling to Europe, despite the fact no policy proposal is formally on the table. This commentary examines the opportunities and drawbacks of extraterritorial processing, and suggests the need for a well-informed discussion.

Policy Briefs
March 2015

The Development of EU Policy on Immigration and Asylum: Rethinking Coordination and Leadership

Despite the European Union's high expectations for effectively resolving migration-related challenges, it has become clear that the policy-making structure in place today does little to support this goal. This policy brief addresses the underlying mechanisms of policy development around migration and asylum and identifies areas where reform to EU institutions is needed.

Reports
March 2015

Not Adding Up: The Fading Promise of Europe's Dublin System

The European Union's Dublin Regulation, the mechanism to assign responsibility to Member States for processing individual asylum claims, has been the subject of intense political debate since its inception. This report examines the key criticisms of the Dublin system on asylum, evaluates the potential of the recently adopted recast, and recommends topics for consideration during the scheduled 2016 review of the system.

Pages