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

Articles
December 10, 2013
Questions of Immigration Control Preoccupy Policymakers Worldwide as Mixed Flows of New Arrivals Continue, and in Some Cases, Surge
By Elizabeth Collett
Books
December 2013
Managing Borders in an Increasingly Borderless World
Reports
December 2013
Skilled Immigrants in the Global Economy: Prospects for International Cooperation on Recognition of Foreign Qualifications
By  Madeleine Sumption, Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Sarah Flamm
Multimedia
November 20, 2013
Effective Labour Migration Management: Creating Checks and Balances while Searching for Talent
Reports
November 2013
The Immigrant Workforce in Germany: Formal and Informal Barriers to Addressing Skills Deficits
By  Stefan Speckesser
Policy Briefs
November 2013
Reaping the Benefits? Social Security Coordination for Mobile EU Citizens
By  Meghan Benton
Commentaries
October 2013
The Lampedusa Tragedy Prompts the Question: Does the UN Have Any Impact on the World’s Migrants?
By  Kathleen Newland
Policy Briefs
October 2013
What We Know About Migration and Development
By  Kathleen Newland

Pages

Feature
October 1, 2003
French Government Revives Assimilation Policy
Sylvia Zappi outlines a new government action plan for integrating immigrants that reasserts France's previously abandoned assimilationist policy.
Profile
October 1, 2003
Belgium's Immigration Policy Brings Renewal and Challenges
Marco Martiniello and Andrea Rea examine how immigration has made Belgium a multicultural society in perpetual renewal.
Feature
September 1, 2003
Resettlement in the Nordic Countries
The efforts of Nordic countries to provide safe harbor to refugees are outlined by Mette Honore, Senior Legal Consultant to the Danish Refugee Council.
Feature
August 1, 2003
French Muslims, Government Grapple With Integration Pains
France's traditions of secularism and Roman Catholicism are being tested as the country tries to integrate a growing Muslim population, according to Patrick Simon of INED.
Feature
August 1, 2003
Changes to German Law Help Boost Naturalization Numbers
Veysel Oezcan of Humboldt University Berlin reports on how fewer foreign residents of Germany are obtaining citizenship under the provisions of a citizenship law passed in 2000.

Pages

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Recent Activity

Articles
December 10, 2013

Questions of Immigration Control Preoccupy Policymakers Worldwide as Mixed Flows of New Arrivals Continue, and in Some Cases, Surge

This year has seen greater focus by policymakers in countries around the world on the balance between two enduring, complex migration management imperatives: maintaining secure and credible borders while separating out unauthorized immigrants from the most vulnerable populations in need of humanitarian protection, particularly those seeking refuge from conflict and persecution.

Reports
December 2013

Skilled Immigrants in the Global Economy: Prospects for International Cooperation on Recognition of Foreign Qualifications

This report analyzes mutual recognition agreements (MRAs) between countries, which allow professionals to transfer their skills and experiences across borders more effectively. The report, part of a series on the recognition of foreign credentials, evaluates existing MRAs and discusses the prospects for cooperation between the United States and the European Union.
Books
December, 2013

Managing Borders in an Increasingly Borderless World

This edited volume showcases approaches toward border management in Europe, Central America, and North America, and reflects on the challenges that countries in these regions face in managing their borders. The book brings together perspectives from both sides of the Atlantic on what border security means in practice, the challenges that continue to evade policymakers, and what policies have been the most (and least) successful in achieving “secure” borders.

Audio
November 20, 2013

Effective Labour Migration Management: Creating Checks and Balances while Searching for Talent

This Migration Policy Institute Europe event, organized with the Bertelsmann Stiftung, entitled Effective Labour Migration Management: Creating Checks and Balances while Searching for Talent brought together experts, policymakers, and social partners involved in the management of labor migration to discuss the various options available to policymakers.

Policy Briefs
November 2013

Reaping the Benefits? Social Security Coordination for Mobile EU Citizens

This policy brief reviews the challenges that face the EU-wide social security coordination system. It argues that while improving the fairness, clarity, and public support for this system are difficult, even small concessions from the European Commission could provide an opportunity to showcase the elements that do work.
Reports
November 2013

The Immigrant Workforce in Germany: Formal and Informal Barriers to Addressing Skills Deficits

This report evaluates the participation of immigrants in the German workforce development system, highlighting that immigrants are less likely than nonimmigrants to engage in further education or skills training, detailing the various barriers immigrants face in accessing programs for skills development, and proposing policy reforms to reduce these barriers.
Commentaries
October 2013

The Lampedusa Tragedy Prompts the Question: Does the UN Have Any Impact on the World’s Migrants?

As hundreds of migrants were drowning in the Mediterranean, the United Nations General Assembly was hours from gathering for only the second time in its history to address international migration. The juxtaposition threw a question into sharp relief: does the world body have any impact on the world’s migrants?
Reports
October 2013

Immigrant Workers and the Workforce Development System in the United Kingdom

This report, the first in a series examining workforce development systems in three countries, focuses on the increasingly employer-led and flexible UK system that operates alongside centralized immigration and employment policies.

Pages