Europe

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 flow chart showing the steps of the policy cycle

Policy Briefs

Promoting Evidence-Informed Immigrant Integration Policymaking

While many policy areas have seen a revolution in how information is gathered, shared, and used to inform new policies and improve existing ones, immigrant integration has not kept pace. This policy brief explores why integration policy in Europe has not yet seen the development of a robust evidence culture and offers recommendations for creating an environment in which evidence-informed policymaking can flourish.

Image of women and young children from Ukraine arriving at train station in Bucharest

Commentaries

Why the European Labor Market Integration of Displaced Ukrainians Is Defying Expectations

People displaced from Ukraine are finding work more rapidly in European countries than prior refugee cohorts. But uncertainty over how long they will stay, combined with hurdles such as language barriers, has meant many are prioritizing any job over the right job. This commentary examines how policymakers could address this waste of skills as they seek to fill pressing labor needs and facilitate deeper integration of the new arrivals.

Two women at a Sudanese community center rehabilitated by IOM and a local NGO

Policy Briefs

Embedding Reintegration Assistance for Returning Migrants in the Local Context: The Role of Referrals

Although European programs to support returning migrants’ reintegration into the communities where they settle have expanded and improved in recent years, returning—at times after years away—is never easy. This policy brief looks at how reintegration programs can adapt the assistance they provide to the local context and connect returnees with longer-term support through referrals, and what it takes to make these referrals successful.

Recent Activity

Multimedia January 27, 2017 European Union Third-Country Partnerships: Where Do We Go From Here?	Articles December 20, 2016 Dawn of New Migration Reality Brings Focus on Borders, Returns, and Integration By Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Susan Fratzke
Articles December 15, 2016 European Project Dealt a Blow with Brexit Vote and Challenges to Migration Management By Kate Hooper	Articles December 13, 2016 As Publics Fear Loss of National Identity, Far-Right Populist Movements Gain Strength By Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan
Articles December 12, 2016 Crises with Links to Immigration Result in Divergent Policy Responses on Either Side of the Atlantic By Aliyyah Ahad and Liz Heimann	Articles December 8, 2016 Migrants and Smugglers Get Creative to Circumvent Immigration Enforcement By Caitlin Katsiaficas and Ariel G. Ruiz Soto
Articles December 7, 2016 New Actors Step Up to Help Shoulder Growing Refugee Burden, But System Slow to Adapt By Meghan Benton	Reports November 2016 Towards a Whole-of-Society Approach to Receiving and Settling Newcomers in Europe By Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Meghan Benton

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Reports March 2009 Immigration in the United Kingdom: The Recession and Beyond By Madeleine Sumption and Will Somerville	Reports January 2009 Migration and the Economic Downturn: What to Expect in the European Union By Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Madeleine Sumption and Will Somerville
Reports November 2008 Emerging Demographic Patterns across the Mediterranean and their Implications for Migration through 2030 By Philippe Fargues	Reports November 2008 Demographic and Human-Capital Trends in Eastern Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa By Wolfgang Lutz, Warren Sanderson, Sergei Scherbov and Samir K.C.
Reports November 2008 Talent in the 21st-Century Economy By Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Will Somerville and Hiroyuki Tanaka	Reports November 2008 The Growing Global Demand for Students as Skilled Migrants By Lesleyanne Hawthorne
Reports October 2008 Hybrid Immigrant-Selection Systems: The Next Generation of Economic Migration Schemes By Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Will Somerville and Hiroyuki Tanaka	Policy Briefs September 2008 Learning by Doing: Experiences of Circular Migration By Kathleen Newland, Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza and Aaron Terrazas

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Top Ten

December 3, 2007

Integration Means Belonging

All the nuanced meanings of "belonging" describe integration trends in industrialized countries in 2007, including the United States, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Germany.

Top Ten

December 3, 2007

Migration and Development Issues: No Longer a Novelty in Policy Discussions

The language of migration and development—remittances, diaspora, brain drain, circular migration—has become standard among researchers and NGOs interested in development issues. In 2007, that language formally became part of the migration policy agenda, particularly in Europe.

Top Ten

December 3, 2007

Managing Global Travel with Technology and Cooperation

Countries continue to adopt technological means of supporting border and immigration officials' decisions about what travelers pose risks or are barred by law, making biometrics the norm and not the exception.

Top Ten

December 3, 2007

Ones to Watch in 2008: The 2008 US Presidential Elections, New Settlement Patterns, Visa Waiver Program, Migration and Climate Change, and France

Immigration and the 2008 elections, migration and climate change, visa waiver programs, more.

Feature

July 9, 2007

Germany Strives to Integrate Immigrants with New Policies

With reforms to its 2005 immigrant integration law and the unveiling of a National Integration Plan, Germany expects to improve integration and come closer to the European Union's Common Basic Principles on immigrant integration. MPI's Eric Leise reports.

Recent Activity

Audio

January 27, 2017

European Union Third-Country Partnerships: Where Do We Go From Here?

In the year since the Valletta Summit, the European Union and Member State governments have ramped up cooperation with origin, transit, and hosting countries, yet questions remain over how effective these partnerships have been and how far they can be reasonably be pursued. This webinar is a discussion on longer-term interventions the European Union may pursue to find solutions for asylum seekers, including cooperation with other countries on migration management.

Articles

December 20, 2016

Dawn of New Migration Reality Brings Focus on Borders, Returns, and Integration

As Europe begins to move beyond the overwhelming flows of asylum seekers and other migrants it experienced starting in 2015, policymakers are paying significant focus to integration coupled with stepped-up enforcement. 2016 saw a wave of policy innovations facilitating integration as well as returns and deterrence, but it remains to be seen whether Europe will be able to continue and scale up this work in 2017 and beyond, as this Top 10 article explores.

Articles

December 15, 2016

European Project Dealt a Blow with Brexit Vote and Challenges to Migration Management

The United Kingdom's stunning decision to leave the European Union in June 2016, intertwined with rising concerns over migration, marked a significant setback to key objectives of the European project, including the right to free movement. Amid growing euroskepticism across the continent, it remains to be seen if the European Union will be able to reassert leadership to address migration and other issues in 2017 and beyond.

Articles

December 13, 2016

As Publics Fear Loss of National Identity, Far-Right Populist Movements Gain Strength

The success of populist movements on both sides of the Atlantic in 2016, including Donald Trump's victory in the United States and the United Kingdom's vote to quit the European Union, have sparked an identity crisis in the West. Campaigns effectively tapped into the anxieties of voters who feel left behind by societal change and out-of-touch elites, while normalizing anti-immigrant rhetoric in mainstream discourse, as this Top 10 article explores.

Articles

December 12, 2016

Crises with Links to Immigration Result in Divergent Policy Responses on Either Side of the Atlantic

While Europe and the United States saw terror attacks in 2016 carried out by radicalized immigrants or members of the second generation, policy responses varied on either side of the Atlantic. The perceived security threat posed by refugees was the main concern in the United States. Meanwhile, European debates centered more on concerns over loss of control of migration flows and lack of social cohesion.

Articles

December 8, 2016

Migrants and Smugglers Get Creative to Circumvent Immigration Enforcement

Smugglers and migrants adapted their paths in light of changing conditions in 2016, including the construction of walls and closure of borders. Cuban and Haitian migrants increasingly chose to make their way to the United States through South and Central America rather than by sea. Meanwhile, migrant flows to Europe have splintered into a wider range of routes, seeking new openings through the Western Balkans.

Articles

December 7, 2016

New Actors Step Up to Help Shoulder Growing Refugee Burden, But System Slow to Adapt

2016 saw the emergence of a "whole-of-society" approach to the refugee crisis, with a number of new actors, including many from the private sector, engaging with humanitarian protection issues in creative ways. This engagement and the energy and diversity of these partners, in the tech sector and beyond, creates both opportunities and challenges for governments and more traditional civil-society organizations.

Reports

November 2016

Towards a Whole-of-Society Approach to Receiving and Settling Newcomers in Europe

With the seemingly endless flows of asylum seekers and migrants abated, at least for the present, Europe is now faced with the long-term and complex challenges of integration of these newcomers. This report examines the political, social, and economic contexts and immigration histories of European countries and how the current integration challenges are complicated by existing challenges of fragmentation and social unrest. Still, the authors find some cause for optimism.

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