Since 2015, migration issues have been at the center of European debates and have been worsening divergences of opinion and tensions among Member States of the European Union (EU). The building of common asylum and immigration policies since 1999 has not prevented a series of crises on topics such as irregular arrivals on European shores, search and rescue at sea, dispersal of asylum seekers or the management of internal and external EU borders. These crises highlight the deadlocks of the EU construction process and question European solidarity. Because of institutional deadlocks, the core of EU immigration and asylum policies is shifting outside EU borders with a series of agreements with third countries (Turkey, Morocco, Libya, Niger…). While outsourcing the management of migration flows to these countries, this policy is impacting other regional migration dynamics such as in the sub-Saharan area.
Ifri's Center for Migration and Citizenship is proposing policy papers, conferences, and cooperation with European and African experts and research fellows in order to analyze EU asylum and immigration policies with a focus on the following topics:
With its new Skilled Immigration Act (Fachkräfteeinwanderungsgesetz) of 23 June 2023, Germany aims to become the country with "the most modern immigration law in Europe". A new points system and new entry rules for experienced workers having a degree from their home country...
The 2015 “crisis” accelerated and/or intensified the involvement of foundations (in particular those from the private sector) in the field of migration. The crisis not only created a sense of urgency, but also generated a movement of public empathy that foundations were willing to accompany...
In recent years, Germany’s Africa politics have been characterized by proactive international initiatives and the claim for a "partnership at eye level". However, a look at the power constellations of its cooperation indicates that inequalities are – contrary to Germany’s own claims – rather...
German development cooperation (GDC) in a post-Merkel era can be expected to become more geopolitical. Recently adopted German policy documents like the Indo-Pacific guidelines as well as the support to the geopolitical ambition of the European Commission suggest such a tendency for future...
EU policy on migration and asylum is being built for the last 20 years. But this process is today on hold although France and Germany support the same position on this matter. However, the “migration crisis” in 2015 highlighted the weakness of the Franco-German alliance and the extend to which...
While migration from Africa is the priority of European policies for the control of the European Union’s external borders, African migration dynamics are above all regional. Sub-Saharan migration is poorly connected to transcontinental flows: more than 70% remain in Africa.
More than 70 million people were forcibly displaced at the end of 2018. In that context, more safe and legal pathways to countries of asylum is a crucial challenge for the international protection regime. A toolkit is available to States and UNHCR, more particularly refugee resettlement.
The European Union did respond to the massive influx of migrants in 2015, but with short-term measures, which have widened the divisions between member states.
RAMSES 2020. A World without a Compass?, written by Ifri's research team and external experts, offers an in-depth and up-to-date analysis of geopolitics in today’s world.
The eighth position paper of the Daniel Vernet Group addresses immigration, integration and cohesion in Europe where migration is often perceived as a threat to cohesion within societies and also among states. In the paper, the Daniel Vernet Group argues that migration and cohesion are not...
While Europe is facing the largest displacement phenomenon since World War II, we are experiencing an unprecedented wave of solidarity for refugees from Ukraine in all parts of the continent. The mobilization of Europeans for refugees and migrants has been rising since 2015. It is both a...
The online registrations for this conference are now closed but you can still register by mail to Matthieu Tardis tardis@ifri.org
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The 4x4 Directors Forum is an annual meeting gathering the directors of four European and four African Think Tanks to discuss current challenges that both continents are facing. The purpose is to identify common positions and asymmetries, and address possible areas of cooperation in order to...
The global dialogue on migration is frequently stalled due to contradictory interests and positions between the countries of the North (Europe and North America) and the South.
Conference-debate with Roberto Mignone, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Representative in Libya.
The arrivals of refugees from East Africa in Europe have continued to increase since 2015. However, this situation should not gloss over the fact that migration is mainly a regional phenomenon: East Africa, alongside Middle East, hosts currently more refugees than any other regions in the...
The European Union (EU) has witnessed an influx of immigrants for more than two years. It has had an important impact on a great number of member states, and on the EU itself, who turned out to be, to a large extent, incapable of adopting a shared approach.
The arrival of one million refugees in Europe between 2015 and 2016 has been perceived as the proof of the drastic acceleration of international migration. What is the reality of the situation? How has this “refugee crisis” affected the European Union and its institutions? Where are we now,...
France and Austria perceive the European refugee crisis in different lights and have adopted specific policies accordingly. What are these policies on the reception and integration of refugees? How do they weigh on the relations with neighboring countries, and more particularly, on the...
Humanitarian disaster, xenophobic feelings and security threats: refugees are at the core of European debates in 2015. The refugee situation is underlining deep discrepancies among and weaknesses of Europeans towards conflicts around the world and a shared project for the EU. How far will...
A weeks-long ordeal for asylum seekers who had been stranded at sea concluded on Friday, as the French government granted safe harbor for the Ocean Viking rescue ship in the southern city of Toulon.
As a ship carrying more than 200 migrants rescued at sea docked in a French port on Friday, a diplomatic crisis between France and Italy worsened, signaling further chaos in the European Union's already erratic handling of asylum seekers coming to Europe.
After several days of diplomatic wrangling with Italy, France decided to 'exceptionally' allow the humanitarian ship Ocean Viking to dock. While maritime law requires the rescue of migrants in danger, it does not state which country should welcome them.
Migrants who head to the United Kingdom often see it less as a panacea than a last-ditch means-to-an-end, according to Matthieu Tardis, an expert in migration policy at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI).
Since taking in more than a million people fleeing war and poverty in 2015, Europe has stepped up border controls but still falls short on common migration and asylum policies.
Both in the US and in Europe, border control has become one central component of immigration and asylum policies with seemingly the same objective: preventing irregular entries of migrants and refugees. This trend has accelerated in recent years, with ever stricter border controls, more...
Matthieu Tardis, Research Fellow at the Center for Migration and Citizenship spoke about the European Union's migration policy and the crisis at the Turkish-Greek border on Euronews's program, Now.
The distance between Dover, England, and Calais, France, is only 30 miles. For migrants and refugees trying to cross from France to Britain through a tunnel underneath the English Channel, however, that...
