E.g., 03/23/2023
E.g., 03/23/2023
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.

Photo of a teacher from Ukraine organizing activities for refugee children in Moldova
Commentaries

Prolonged Ukrainian Displacement: An Uneasy Marriage of Reception, Integration, and Return Policies

One year into the vast Ukrainian displacement crisis sparked by Russia's invasion, European policymakers are having to confront the likelihood of prolonged stay for millions of Ukrainians and the prospect of new displacement. How can they juggle longer-term integration, first-reception services for new arrivals, and prepare Ukrainians for eventual return to rebuild their country? They will have to focus on multipronged policies and services, this commentary suggests.

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.

Recent Activity

EUTurkeydeal Commentary2018
Commentaries
March 2018
Turkey-Style Deals Will Not Solve the Next EU Migration Crisis
By  Elizabeth Collett
Coverthumb_CEAS StructuralWeaknesses
Reports
March 2018
Cracked Foundation, Uncertain Future: Structural Weaknesses in the Common European Asylum System
By  Hanne Beirens
Coverthumb DataMatters2018
Reports
November 2020
Immigration Data Matters
By  Jeanne Batalova, Andriy Shymonyak and Michelle Mittelstadt
Refugees attend a job training fair
Articles
February 27, 2018
Newcomers in the North: Labor Market Integration of Refugees in Northern Europe
By Patrick Joyce
_ImmigrantStudents3CROP
Multimedia
February 8, 2018
Can New Digital and Pedagogical Innovations Help Bridge Education Gaps for Migrant Children?
Coverthumb EduMainstreaming2.0
Reports
February 2018
Mainstreaming 2.0: How Europe’s Education Systems Can Boost Migrant Inclusion
By  Aliyyah Ahad and Meghan Benton
flickr welcome to the European Union Dimitar Nikolov 3776066660_0eba667667_z
Multimedia
January 31, 2018
Migration in Europe: What Trends to Watch in 2018?
Designing Civic Education for Diverse Societies
Reports
February 2018
Designing Civic Education for Diverse Societies: Models, Tradeoffs, and Outcomes
By  Per Mouritsen and Astrid Jaeger

Pages

cover transcoop
Reports
June 2011
Opportunities for Transatlantic Cooperation on International Migration
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Madeleine Sumption
featured_migrationandrecession[1]
Books
June 2011
Migration and the Great Recession: The Transatlantic Experience
cover workLanguageinstruction
Reports
June 2011
Improving Immigrants' Employment Prospects through Work-Focused Language Instruction
By  Margie McHugh and A.E. Challinor
cover_EUcivilsociety
Reports
June 2011
The Role of Civil Society in EU Migration Policy: Perspectives on the European Union's Engagement in its Neighborhood
By  Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan
cover eightpolicies
Reports
June 2011
Eight Policies to Boost the Economic Contribution of Employment-Based Immigration
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Madeleine Sumption
cover_reducing_illegal_employment_EUI
Reports
May 2011
Policies to Curb Unauthorized Employment
By  Madeleine Sumption
cover paytogo
Reports
April 2011
Pay-to-Go Schemes and Other Noncoercive Return Programs: Is Scale Possible?
By  Richard Black, Michael Collyer and Will Somerville
ImmigrantIntegration Austerity Cover
Reports
March 2011
Immigrant Integration in Europe in a Time of Austerity
By  Elizabeth Collett

Pages

Feature
February 28, 2011
Re-envisioning Security and the Movement of People

In the post-9/11 era, U.S. policymakers have increasingly used migration policy tools to strengthen national security. This piece highlights civil rights and liberties issues that point to the need to re-envision the relationship between security and mobility, and discusses a proposal to "secure human mobility."

Feature
February 23, 2011
Filling Labor Shortages through Immigration: An Overview of Shortage Lists and their Implications

Many governments use shortage lists to either facilitate or discourage economically-motivated immigration into particular occupations or fields, but the practice of doing so raises a variety of practical and philosophical questions. MPI's Madeleine Sumption discusses the challenges of maintaining shortage lists and developing immigration policies around them.

Profile
January 31, 2011
Finland's Balancing Act: The Labor Market, Humanitarian Relief, and Immigrant Integration

Arno Tanner of the Finnish Immigration Service and the Universities of Helsinki, and Tampere discusses the historical and current state of migration to and from Finland, and the country's immigration policy priorities going forward.

Feature
January 24, 2011
Unaccompanied Immigrant Children: A Growing Phenomenon with Few Easy Solutions

Destination countries of unaccompanied child migrants struggle with many questions related to why children migrate, how they should be received and processed, and whether they should be protected, integrated, or returned to their home countries. Amanda Levinson of ThirdSpace Consulting provides the context within which unaccompanied child migration occurs, and analyzes the policy response of the United States and European destination countries.

Top Ten
December 2, 2010
Crackdown on Illegal Migration Makes Greece Main Entry Point to Europe

When there's a will, there's a way — migrants seeking illegal entry have proven the old proverb true countless times as they and their smugglers have adapted to enforcement strategies. The latest development in the cat-and-mouse game comes not from the United States, but from Europe.

Pages

archive >

Recent Activity

Commentaries
March 2018

Turkey-Style Deals Will Not Solve the Next EU Migration Crisis

The EU-Turkey deal has been credited with helping to end the migration crisis of 2015-16, and after two years in force it has fostered a myth that such deals are cure-alls. They are not, as this MPI Europe commentary explores. Recent EU responses place great emphasis on transit routes to Europe. But what if the next major event is a different kind of shock altogether?

Reports
March 2018

Cracked Foundation, Uncertain Future: Structural Weaknesses in the Common European Asylum System

During the 2015–16 migration crisis, European asylum systems were stretched to a breaking point. Yet many of the structural issues that contributed to failures to register newcomers, insufficient reception capacity, and growing backlogs of asylum cases existed before—and many remain unresolved. This report critically evaluates Common European Asylum System legal and operational shortcomings at a time when reform is on the table.

Reports
November 2020

Immigration Data Matters

This useful online guide links users directly to the most credible, high-quality data on immigrants and immigration in the United States and internationally. The easy-to-use guide includes more than 250 data resources compiled by governmental and nongovernmental sources, covering topics ranging from population stock and flow numbers to statistics on enforcement, public opinion, religious affiliation, and much more.

Articles
February 27, 2018

Newcomers in the North: Labor Market Integration of Refugees in Northern Europe

After receiving more than 2 million asylum seekers in 2015-16, European countries are turning to the task of integrating the newcomers, including getting refugees into work. This article explores labor market integration of refugees in five Northern European countries—Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden—drawing key lessons for today from the experiences of earlier groups of humanitarian arrivals.

Video, Audio, Webinars
February 8, 2018

Can New Digital and Pedagogical Innovations Help Bridge Education Gaps for Migrant Children?

Amid the arrival of hundreds of thousands of children during the migration crisis in Europe, school systems are increasingly being called upon to find innovative ways to address growing diversity and support children with migrant backgrounds. This webinar offers lessons for integration and education policymakers to ensure the whole education workforce is equipped to support diverse learners and better realize the broader role schools play as integration actors.

Reports
February 2018

Mainstreaming 2.0: How Europe’s Education Systems Can Boost Migrant Inclusion

Rising numbers of young immigrants and refugees entering European schools following the 2015–16 migration crisis strained system capacity and injected new urgency into debates about how to support diverse learners and their families. This report examines the challenges facing European education systems and identifies key lessons to improve migrant inclusion in schools and integration more broadly.

Video, Audio, Webinars
January 31, 2018

Migration in Europe: What Trends to Watch in 2018?

Is 2018 the year that the European Union takes leadership on migration on the international stage, or where it focuses inwards on healing internal divisions and delivering on overdue migration and asylum system reforms? This webinar looks ahead at the major external and internal events affecting migration on the continent over the next year.

Reports
February 2018

Designing Civic Education for Diverse Societies: Models, Tradeoffs, and Outcomes

Across Europe, civic education programs are being asked to solve a range of social challenges—from dwindling political participation to the protection of immigrant and refugee youth from alienation and radicalization. While these challenges are shared across countries, the programs designed to address them vary considerably. This report explores differing models in Denmark, France, Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

Pages