S5 Ep4: Director’s Cut: Europe’s migration policy challenge

Immigration is one of the most contentious policy matters
currently facing the EU. In this Director’s Cut of ‘The Sound of
Economics’ Bruegel director Guntram Wolff welcomes Ana Palacio,
member of the Spanish council of state and former foreign affairs
minister, as well as Bruegel visiting fellow Elina Ribakova for a
constructive discussion as to which approaches will yield the
best results.


Joining Bruegel director Guntram Wolff for this Director’s Cut of
‘The Sound of Economics’ is Ana Palacio, member of the Spanish
council of state and former foreign affairs minister, and Elina
Ribakova, Bruegel visiting fellow at Bruegel, to discuss the
exact nature of the migration challenges currently troubling the
EU. 


Previous agreement upon the creation of disembarkation centres on
the north African coast constitutes only a policy step rather
than a resolution. Still very little has been done to draw up a
common European migration policy and consensus remains difficult
while


Member States continue to operate their own
independent, broadly disparate policies.


Separating the concept of migration and refugees is also key to
improving the general understanding of the challenges; likewise,
being clear that the number of arrivals in the EU is now
significantly lower than in 2015. 


There is also progress to be made in accepting that integration
is a two-way street, and that legitimate concerns
should not be written off without a hearing. 


For further reading, consider the Bruegel Blueprint publication
‘People on the move: migration and mobility in the European
Union’, which contains a wealth of research on the various
challenges that immigration poses to Europe’s policymakers. 


Also recommended is this blog post by Zsolt Darvas which
illustrates that Europe’s population growth would now be negative
if it were not for the inflow of immigrants.