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.

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.

Four refugee artists stand with a piece of art they have created together that will be shown at the Venice Biennale

Reports

Promoting the Inclusion of Europe’s Migrants and Minorities in Arts and Culture

European cities are becoming ever more diverse. Yet migrants and minorities are often under-represented among mainstream cultural venues’ visitors, featured artists, and staff. This MPI Europe report examines strategies for improving the inclusion of migrant and minority communities in culture and the arts, with the aim of boosting integration outcomes, strengthening social cohesion, and making cultural institutions more vibrant.

Vehicles drive down a road near the Tunisia-Libya border with the sun in the background

Reports

The Challenge of Coordinating Border Management Assistance between Europe and the Maghreb

To address cross-border challenges, the European Union and its Member States have increasingly partnered with neighboring countries, with those in the Maghreb region of northern Africa playing a particularly important role. This report examines the border security situation in the Maghreb and European efforts to work with Maghrebi partners to strengthen border management. It finds a mismatch in priorities stymies cooperation.

Recent Activity

Multimedia February 17, 2016 Europe’s Migration Crisis: A Status Report and the Way Forward	Articles February 10, 2016 Overwhelmed by Refugee Flows, Scandinavia Tempers its Warm Welcome By Arno Tanner
Reports February 2016 Emigration from Portugal: Old Wine in New Bottles? By David Justino	Multimedia February 8, 2016 Scaling Up Resettlement: The Role of Private Sponsorship Programmes in Addressing the Refugee Crisis
Articles January 29, 2016 Refugee Flows to Lesvos: Evolution of a Humanitarian Response By Joel Hernandez	Reports February 2016 Getting the Balance Right: Strengthening Asylum Reception Capacity at National and EU Levels By Michael Kegels
Articles December 18, 2015 Migration Crisis Tests European Consensus and Governance By Demetrios G. Papademetriou	Reports December 2015 The Changing Face of Emigration: Harnessing the Potential of the New Greek Diaspora By Jennifer Cavounidis

Pages

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
Reports July 2004 Observations on Regularization and the Labor Market Performance of Unauthorized and Regularized Immigrants By Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Kevin O'Neil and Maia Jachimowicz	Policy Briefs May 2004 The Enlargement of an 'Area of Freedom, Security and Justice': Managing Migration in a European Union of 25 Members By Joanne van Selm
Reports March 2004 The EU as a Global Player in the Refugee Protection Regime By Joanne van Selm	Policy Briefs December 2003 Rediscovering Resettlement By Gregor Noll and Joanne van Selm
Reports October 2003 The Feasibility of Setting Up Resettlement Schemes in EU Member States or at EU Level By Joanne van Selm, Erin Patrick, Tamara Woroby and Monica Matts	Reports October 2003 The Strategic Use of Resettlement By Joanne van Selm

Pages

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.

Feature

June 1, 2006

Europe: Population and Migration in 2005

In Western Europe, every country has more people entering than leaving, and the same is true for many of the Central European countries that joined the European Union in 2004. Rainer Muenz of the Hamburg Institute of International Economics takes a detailed look at the latest European population data.

Feature

March 1, 2006

Migration, Integration, and Security in the UK Since July 7

The July 7, 2005, suicide bombings in London's transport system were carried out mainly by men born and raised in the United Kingdom. James Hampshire and Shamit Saggar of the University of Sussex explain how subsequent policy discussions are linking immigration issues to UK security concerns.

Profile

February 1, 2006

Latvia Looks West, But Legacy of Soviets Remains

Although this former Soviet republic joined the European Union in 2004, its main concern is its large ethnic Russian population. Tim Heleniak of the University of Maryland explains.

Profile

January 1, 2006

Caught Between East and West, Ukraine Struggles with Its Migration Policy

Since its independence in 1991, Ukraine has expanded immigration and emigration rights – but it has also become a neighbor of the expanded European Union, a crossroads for illegal migration, and fertile ground for human traffickers. Olena Malynovksa of the National Institute for International Security Problems in Kyiv reports.

Recent Activity

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.

Articles

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.

Reports

February 2016

Emigration from Portugal: Old Wine in New Bottles?

While emigration increased after Portugal plunged into an economically turbulent period amid the global financial crisis, the country's image as the poster child for post-crisis outmigration may be misplaced. This report explores the scale, drivers, and impact of emigration from Portugal since the turn of the millennium, and examines how the country can stem emigration and promote the return of emigrants.

Audio, Webinars

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.

Articles

January 29, 2016

Refugee Flows to Lesvos: Evolution of a Humanitarian Response

Lesvos became a major focal point in Europe's migration crisis as more than half a million migrants and asylum seekers transited the Greek island in 2015. Describing the work of ad hoc volunteer-led efforts and professional aid organizations, this article delves into the evolution of the aid response across the island and the challenges of integrating humanitarian operations.

Reports

February 2016

Getting the Balance Right: Strengthening Asylum Reception Capacity at National and EU Levels

With arrivals of asylum seekers overwhelming the resources and institutional capacity of some European Union Member States, this report examines the reception capacity challenges faced by national reception systems. Authored by the Operational Director of Belgium's reception agency, the report offers recommendations to improve coordination across Member States in ways that could effectively better utilize existing capacity.

Articles

December 18, 2015

Migration Crisis Tests European Consensus and Governance

Europe's defining challenge in 2015 was the exponential growth in the number of asylum seekers and migrants arriving on its shores. The European Union and its Member States were slow to respond, and reactive when they did. As trust among Member States and between national and EU-level authorities began to erode, the European Union has found its ability to implement a comprehensive response severely handicapped.

Reports

December 2015

The Changing Face of Emigration: Harnessing the Potential of the New Greek Diaspora

Large outflows of educated young people escaping high levels of unemployment, in tandem with inflows of unauthorized migrants, pose a fresh set of challenges for Greek policymakers. This Transatlantic Council on Migration report examines Greek emigration, and its economic implications, before exploring policy directions to minimize the costs and maximize the benefits of this mobility.

Programs

Topics see all >

Regions see all >

Data

Featured Publication

Programs

You are here

Europe

Recent Activity

Pages

Pages

Pages

Recent Activity

Pages