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A Sustainable Immigration Policy for the EU

Author

Listed:
  • Ritzen, Jo

    (affiliation not available)

  • Kahanec, Martin

    (Central European University)

Abstract

A sustainable EU Immigration Policy aims to contribute to a vibrant European society through more effectively and selectively managed immigration from outside the EU, more attention to integration of immigrants, more rooting out of discrimination, more asylum centres close to areas of conflict, and more attention to education and training in areas where refugees have settled. Immigration from outside the EU is often opposed, mainly because of sluggish integration combined with tensions in actual and perceived values between immigrants and native populations. These divisions affect not only the first generation of immigrants, but also those that follow. We propose a sustainable, win-win policy fostering the benefits of immigration and in line with the preferences of EU citizens holding not only positive but also more sceptical views on immigration while relying on adherence to human rights. The proposed policy is directed towards more effectively and selectively managed immigration based on the employability potential of the immigrant, combined with more attention to integration and stricter measures to fight discrimination. We also acknowledge the need for a robust policy framework to cope with asylum and abrupt large-scale waves of refugees wanting to enter the EU, resulting from conflicts, natural catastrophes, and other sudden or violent events. We propose screening schemes for refugee camps surrounding countries they have fled to determine migrants’ refugee status, channelling them either as economic migrants, selected on their employability, or through a humanitarian scheme that respects the EU’s multilateral and bilateral commitments. Such a humanitarian scheme would be embedded into education-cooperation policies, to provide better opportunities to qualify for admission and substantially greater support for refugees.

Suggested Citation

  • Ritzen, Jo & Kahanec, Martin, 2017. "A Sustainable Immigration Policy for the EU," IZA Policy Papers 126, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izapps:pp126
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    5. Martin Kahanec & Mariola Pytliková & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 2016. "The Free Movement of Workers in an Enlarged European Union: Institutional Underpinnings of Economic Adjustment," Springer Books, in: Martin Kahanec & Klaus F. Zimmermann (ed.), Labor Migration, EU Enlargement, and the Great Recession, pages 1-34, Springer.
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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    asylum policy; immigrant integration; economic migrants; refugees; humanitarian migration; migration policy; EU; migration;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • J68 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Public Policy

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