E.g., 12/04/2023
E.g., 12/04/2023
European Union

European Union

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In the European Union, enlargement, special arrangements for the expansion of the Schengen Area, and the gradual development of a stronger EU role in immigration have added new complexity to the policy landscape, leading to both new patterns of movement and new policies for governing immigration from outside of the European Union's 27 Member States. The research offered here focuses on migration policies, trends, and common challenges that affect Europe at a supranational level—from free movement to asylum policy and the management of EU borders.

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Reports

Toolkit for Evidence-Informed Policymaking in Migrant Integration

The smart use of research and data can strengthen all parts of the policymaking cycle and, in the integration field, lead to better outcomes for immigrants and the societies in which they live. This toolkit offers resources and strategies to improve how evidence is used in policy design and implementation, program evaluation, evidence dissemination, funding decisions, and stakeholder engagement.

Recent Activity

Multimedia
May 19, 2021
EU Strategy on Voluntary Return and Reintegration: Switching Perspectives?
Cover image for EU Strategy on Voluntary Return and Reintegration: Crafting a Road Map to Better Cooperation with Migrants’ Countries of Origin
Policy Briefs
May 2021
EU Strategy on Voluntary Return and Reintegration: Crafting a Road Map to Better Cooperation with Migrants’ Countries of Origin
By  Camille Le Coz
Returned migrants participate in development work in Burkina Faso.
Articles
May 6, 2021
Europe’s Tackling of ‘Root Causes’ of African Migration Has a Mixed Record
By Tessa Coggio
Commentaries
April 2021
European Strategy on Voluntary Return and Reintegration Advances Action within Bloc, Leaves More to Discuss with Countries of Migrant Origin
By  Camille Le Coz
Multimedia
April 19, 2021
Pushing Borders Outward: The State of Asylum Globally Five Years After the EU-Turkey Deal
2021.4.8 IOM Muse Mohammed Syrian Refugees Leaving Lebanon Covid
Multimedia
April 8, 2021
A Year of Pandemic: The State of Global Human Mobility & What Is on the Horizon
Migrants arrive in Greece on a crowded boat from Turkey.
Articles
April 8, 2021
The EU-Turkey Deal, Five Years On: A Frayed and Controversial but Enduring Blueprint
By Kyilah Terry
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Reports
April 2021
COVID-19 and the State of Global Mobility in 2020
By  Meghan Benton, Jeanne Batalova, Samuel Davidoff-Gore and Timo Schmidt

Pages

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Reports
May 2016
Engaging the Anxious Middle on Immigration Reform: Evidence from the UK Debate
By  Sunder Katwala and Will Somerville
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Reports
March 2016
The Canadian Expression of Interest System: A Model to Manage Skilled Migration to the European Union?
By  Maria Vincenza Desiderio and Kate Hooper
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Reports
February 2016
Getting the Balance Right: Strengthening Asylum Reception Capacity at National and EU Levels
By  Michael Kegels
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Reports
December 2015
Welcoming Engagement: How Private Sponsorship Can Strengthen Refugee Resettlement in the European Union
By  Judith Kumin
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Reports
June 2015
Into the Mainstream: Rethinking Public Services for Diverse and Mobile Populations
By  Meghan Benton, Helen McCarthy and Elizabeth Collett
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Reports
May 2015
Before the Boat: Understanding the Migrant Journey
By  Jacob Townsend and Christel Oomen
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Policy Briefs
March 2015
The Development of EU Policy on Immigration and Asylum: Rethinking Coordination and Leadership
By  Elizabeth Collett
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Reports
March 2015
Not Adding Up: The Fading Promise of Europe's Dublin System
By  Susan Fratzke

Pages

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Top Ten
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.

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Top Ten
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.

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Feature
June 22, 2016
Asylum Seeker and Migrant Flows in the Mediterranean Adapt Rapidly to Changing Conditions

Movements of migrants and asylum seekers in the Mediterranean have shown to be highly fluid, adapting quickly to changing conditions at origin, transit, and destination. This article examines the shifts in flows across the three major Mediterranean routes since 2008 and the complex web of often interconnected factors underpinning these movements.

Prime Minister David Cameron speaking outside Number 10 Downing Street
Feature
May 4, 2016
Brexit: The Role of Migration in the Upcoming EU Referendum

Against a backdrop of anxieties about migration, the United Kingdom's government set a referendum for June 2016 on whether to withdraw from the European Union. This article explores the role played by migration in the decision to call the referendum, how immigration might influence the result, and finally the implications of both referendum outcomes (Leave and Remain) in terms of migration policy and regulation.

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Feature
February 10, 2016
Overwhelmed by Refugee Flows, Scandinavia Tempers its Warm Welcome

Drawn by generous asylum policies and the region's welcoming reputation, hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers arrived in Scandinavia in 2015. As the unprecedented flow overwhelmed the asylum systems of Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Denmark, lawmakers began to recalibrate their policies, tightening asylum benefits in a number of significant ways, as this article explores.

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Video, Audio
February 17, 2016

Europe’s Migration Crisis: A Status Report and the Way Forward

MPI's Demetrios Papademetriou discusses the current policy responses to the refugee and migration crisis at EU and national levels, and possible options for dealing more effectively with the crisis and longer-term integration challenges.

A local volunteer in Spain watches the children in a sponsored refugee family as they play.
Audio
February 8, 2016

Scaling Up Resettlement: The Role of Private Sponsorship Programmes in Addressing the Refugee Crisis

Analysts discuss how private sponsorship programs for refugees, used by Canada and a handful of other countries, could alleviate some of the pressure from the European refugee crisis by allowing individuals, groups, businesses, and other entities to sponsor individual refugees for resettlement.

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Video, Audio
October 22, 2015

Serving Newcomer Immigrant and Refugee Students in Secondary Schools: Comparing U.S. and European Practices

This webinar examines the challenges facing educators and policymakers in Europe and the United States as they attempt to meet the needs of immigrant and refugee students who arrive during their middle and high school years.

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Video, Audio
October 20, 2015

What's Next for the European Asylum Crisis?

An MPI Europe video chat with the outgoing head of the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) on the current EU refugee crisis, what strategies Europe ought to be pursuing in response, and the growing role of EASO as well as its track record over its first five years.

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Audio
September 18, 2015

Simply No Consensus: Can The EU Respond to Continued Refugee Flows?

A webinar/call with senior officials from two EU Member States, Austria and Slovenia, to discuss their differing perspectives on the current refugee crisis, and consider what is needed to ensure a unified, practically feasible response to the biggest crisis that has faced the Common European Asylum System since its inception.

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Recent Activity

Video, Audio, Webinars
May 19, 2021

EU Strategy on Voluntary Return and Reintegration: Switching Perspectives?

In April 2021, the European Commission took a step toward the creation of a common EU return system, releasing its first Strategy on Voluntary Return and Reintegration. This MPI Europe event, marking the release of EU Strategy on Voluntary Return and Reintegration: Crafting a Road Map to Better Cooperation with Migrants’ Countries of Origin, examines origin- and destination-country policy priorities surrounding return, opportunities for cooperation, and possible next steps in policy development. 

Policy Briefs
May 2021

EU Strategy on Voluntary Return and Reintegration: Crafting a Road Map to Better Cooperation with Migrants’ Countries of Origin

In its Strategy on Voluntary Return and Reintegration, the European Commission sets out principles to increase the number of voluntary returns, make the return process more dignified, and provide better support to returnees. To make good on these goals, EU countries will need to improve their cooperation with migrants’ countries of origin. This policy brief explores opportunities to build this cooperation.

Articles
May 6, 2021

Europe’s Tackling of ‘Root Causes’ of African Migration Has a Mixed Record

The European Union has tried to leverage development assistance to address root causes of migration from Africa, including poverty, instability, and conflict. The EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, unveiled in 2015, has supported more than 250 programs totaling nearly 5 billion euros across 26 countries, but has had only partial success addressing the underlying drivers of migration, as this article explains.

Commentaries
April 2021

European Strategy on Voluntary Return and Reintegration Advances Action within Bloc, Leaves More to Discuss with Countries of Migrant Origin

The European Commission's strategy on voluntary return and reintegration for migrants covers a lot of ground, including new coordination efforts across EU Member States. Yet one of its most significant developments is the recognition that countries of migrant origin must be consulted and play a key role in reintegration if these efforts are to be impactful and sustainable, as this commentary explains.

Video, Audio, Webinars
April 19, 2021

Pushing Borders Outward: The State of Asylum Globally Five Years After the EU-Turkey Deal

Marking the launch of the Beyond Territorial Asylum: Making Protection Work in a Bordered World initiative, this event examines how the accessibility of asylum and protection globally has changed since the EU-Turkey deal, similar policies deployed by countries of asylum, the impacts of these policies, and what can be done to ensure refugees retain access to protection.  

Video, Audio, Webinars
April 8, 2021

A Year of Pandemic: The State of Global Human Mobility & What Is on the Horizon

Marking the release of an IOM-MPI report, this two-panel discussion, features introductory remarks by IOM Director General António Vitorino and examines how the pandemic has reshaped border management and human mobility in 2020 and what the lasting impacts may be throughout 2021 and beyond.

Articles
April 8, 2021

The EU-Turkey Deal, Five Years On: A Frayed and Controversial but Enduring Blueprint

The European Union’s landmark 2016 migration deal with Turkey offered aid and other benefits in exchange for Turkey's assistance in helping reduce arrivals of asylum seekers and other migrants. At its fifth anniversary, the EU-Turkey deal remains one criticized by human-rights advocates and has met frustration from Turkey, but in many ways created a blueprint for other externalization arrangements, as this article outlines.

Reports
April 2021

COVID-19 and the State of Global Mobility in 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically curtailed cross-border mobility in 2020, affecting travelers and migrants around the world. This report presents a first-of-its-kind analysis of the many thousands of travel restrictions and border closures imposed by governments to curb the spread of the virus. It examines how these policies evolved, varied across countries and regions, and what these trends may mean for the future of international movement.

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