EUROPEAN MIGRATION OVERVIEW:
Europe faces an interesting set of immigration challenges and opportunities: Demographic pressures as many European societies age, a lively policy and political debate over questions of identity and immigrant integration, and a unique policy environment that has knit 27 European countries together with regards to the management of outer borders and other immigration-related topics. MPI, which has long conducted research and analysis of European policy on topics ranging from labor migration and border security to immigrant integration and citizenship, expanded its presence in Europe in 2011 with the creation of MPI Europe, a research institute based in Brussels that draws upon its own staff and leverages MPI’s deep relationships with European Union and national policymakers, NGOs, academics, foundations, and other opinion leaders.
Additionally, the Migration Policy Institute conducts significant work on Europe through its Transatlantic Council on Migration, a unique deliberative body that examines vital policy issues and informs migration policymaking processes across the Atlantic; and through research projects and partnerships funded through grants from the European Union and others. In one such project in partnership with the European University Institute, MPI conducted the US-EU Immigration Systems project, which identified ways European and US immigration systems can be substantially improved.
LATEST EUROPEAN MIGRATION RESEARCH
Migration and Environmental Change: Assessing the Developing European Approach
By Andrew Geddes and Will Somerville
Migration resulting from environmental change has been a topic of preoccupation since the 1990s, but in practice there has been very little policy development within the European Union on this topic. This brief finds that while such migration is likely to be largely concentrated in areas outside of Europe, there are far-reaching implications for policy. Download Brief
The Integration Needs of Mobile EU Citizens: Impediments and Opportunities
By Elizabeth Collett
The right to free movement granted to all European Union citizens represents a unique experiment in the contemporary history of global migration systems. To date, however, the integration of mobile EU citizens as a specific target group has not been widely discussed, either at EU or national levels, and EU-level integration policies focus on the integration of legally residing third-country nationals. This report investigates the broad range of integration needs that exist in Europe and the role different actors can play in meeting them.
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How Free Is Free Movement? Dynamics and Drivers of Mobility within the European Union
By Meghan Benton and Milica Petrovic
While free movement is at the heart of the European project, the merits and impacts of intra-EU mobility have come under significant scrutiny recently amid public anxiety about competition for jobs and exploitation of welfare systems. This report provides a detailed assessment of free movement, motivations for migration, and challenges countries may need to address as intra-EU mobility enters its next phase.
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Facing 2020: Developing a new European agenda for immigration and asylum policy
By Elizabeth Collett
As the European Commission looks ahead to the next strategic programme for immigration in 2014, this policy brief sketches the challenges in developing a strategic, long-term agenda on migration at a time when Europe remains beset by fiscal uncertainty and a jobs crisis that is particularly acute for the young. Against such a backdrop, few governments are willing to have a serious conversation about anything but skilled immigration. This brief marks the launch of a new policy brief series from MPI Europe that will examine top European migration challenges and opportunities.
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The Netherlands: From National Identity to Plural Identifications
By Monique Kremer
National identity has become a highly politicized issue in the Netherlands in the past decade, with many public figures voicing different opinions on what it means to be “Dutch.” Both right-wing and mainstream parties have adopted political rhetoric that appeals to the public’s growing anxiety about immigrants and their effect on local communities, and many have proposed policies designed to mitigate these fears. This new dialogue has marked a turn away from multiculturalism and a turn toward “culturalized citizenship” — the idea that being Dutch means adhering to a certain set of cultural and social norms and practices.
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Immigration and National Identity in Norway
By Thomas Hylland Eriksen
The number of immigrants and their descendants in Norway almost tripled between 1995 and 2011, resulting in increased debates about integration, immigration policy, multiculturalism, and national identity in recent years. The atrocities of July 2011 revealed an active, militantly anti-immigrant (particularly anti-Muslim) fringe that sees government’s acceptance of cultural pluralism as treacherous. This report assesses the connection between the recent rise of resentment against immigration and broader trends in Norwegian nationalism, and proposes a few policy recommendations with the aim of minimizing this rift in Norwegian society.
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Identity and (Muslim) Integration in Germany
By Naika Foroutan
Germany has become a country of immigration in recent decades, with one-fifth of its population comprised of immigrants and their children. Yet a dominant perception in public discourse and media is that of a homogenous German society in which those with a migration background cannot fully belong. This country case study explores how immigration influences national identity in Germany and the reciprocal influence that German national identity has on immigrants.
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Exceptional in Europe? Spain’s Experience with Immigration and Integration
By Joaquín Arango
Spain’s immigrant population increased from less than 4 percent of the country’s overall population to almost 14 percent in the span of one short decade. Unlike other European countries, however, Spain has not experienced a significant backlash against immigration, even amid an economic crisis that has hit the country hard and led to high levels of unemployment. This country case study from MPI’s Transatlantic Council on Migration explains Spain’s enduring openness to immigration and immigrants.
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French National Identity and Integration: Who Belongs to the National Community?
By Patrick Simon
Since the mid-1980s, France has faced a contentious debate of crucial importance for immigrants and their descendents — defining what it means to be French. Though countries with rich histories of immigration have long accepted “dual belonging,” this concept has been criticized and perceived as at odds with a person’s commitment to French identity. A recent survey of French immigrants, however, shows that multiple allegiances are not an impediment to integration; it is possible to “feel French” and maintain links with a country of origin. However, because of external perceptions, native French citizens are far less likely to accept this adoption of French identity.
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The Relationship Between Immigration and Nativism in Europe and North America
By Cas Mudde
Far-right parties across Europe are gaining momentum, as witnessed by their recent successes at the ballot box in Greece, France, and elsewhere. While immigration is thought to be a major factor fueling the parties’ rise, this report finds that although there is clearly a relationship, the connection is not as straightforward as is often assumed. The report examines the electoral performance of far-right parties in Europe and North America since 1980, finding that high levels of immigration do not automatically lead to more votes for radical-right parties.
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Building a British Model of Integration in an Era of Immigration: Policy Lessons for Government
By Shamit Saggar and Will Somerville
Despite experiencing large-scale immigration flows and settlement over the past half century, the United Kingdom has not developed a formal integration program. Few public policies have specifically sought to advance immigrant integration, and the political debates surrounding immigrant integration have often been fraught and destabilizing, reflecting deep-seated ambivalence in British society about immigrants and immigration. The authors offer a menu of policy options and actions the government should consider to achieve a well-thought-out approach.
Rethinking National Identity in the Age of Migration
By Demetrios G. Papademetriou
Large-scale immigration has led to unprecedented levels of diversity and demographic change, transforming communities across the Atlantic in fundamental ways and challenging closely held notions of national identity, particularly amid heightened economic insecurity. The Transatlantic Council on Migration convened to consider these issues of national identity, social cohesion, and the backlash against multiculturalism; this Council Statement examines the roots of society’s anxiety over immigration and outlines ten steps for fostering greater cohesiveness.
Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future
By Will Kymlicka
Despite substantial evidence to the contrary, a chorus of political leaders in Europe has declared multiculturalism policies a failure – in effect mischaracterizing the multiculturalism experiment, its future prospects, and its progress over the past three decades. This report challenges the recent rhetoric and addresses the advancement of policy areas for countries, examining factors that impede or facilitate successful the implementation of multiculturalism.
The Role of the State in Cultural Integration: Trends, Challenges, and Ways Ahead
By Christian Joppke
For more than a decade, states have experimented with a range of civic integration policies that require immigrants to learn the official language of their host country and acknowledge its basic norms and values — or risk losing social benefits and sometimes even residence permits. The challenge for liberal states is to strike the right balance between policies that are aggressive enough to further social cohesion, yet restrained enough to respect the moral autonomy of immigrants. This is especially difficult when it comes to regulating sensitive identity issues, particularly with respect to religion.
The Centrality of Employment in Immigrant Integration in Europe
By Randall Hansen
The two sides of the debate on immigration and integration in Europe share an underlying assumption that the problem is cultural, while disagreeing on whether it is the result of too much or too little respect for cultural differences. Both get the issue wrong, this report contends, calling attention to the inability of policies to ensure immigrants acquire and retain work. Employment, not culture, must be the basis for immigration policy in Europe, the author suggests.
RECENT EUROPEAN MIGRATION RESEARCH (click to expand list of publications)
• MIGRATION MANAGEMENT/BORDER SECURITY
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• LABOR MARKETS AND COMPETITIVENESS
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• IRREGULAR MIGRATION
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• IMMIGRANT INTEGRATION
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The Migration Policy Institute is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank in Washington, DC dedicated to analysis of the movement of people worldwide. MPI provides analysis, development, and evaluation of
migration and refugee policies at the local, national, and international levels.
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