European Union

Using waste-based biofuels to meet the EU's proposed sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) mandate will leave a shortfall in other transport sectors, erasing any net climate benefit, Chelsea Baldino of the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) has said.

Under the leadership of Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Italy has been named 2021’s country of the year by The Economist. The paper praised his reforms and leadership qualities but feared that if he were to become president he “may be succeeded by...

On 12 November, JEF Madrid organised a local consultation within the framework of the Next Chapter Europe project. We want to ensure the CoFoE becomes a truly participative process, where everyone can have a say on how the future of the European Union should look like.

Germany’s new Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, on Thursday praised Prime Minister António Costa’s work and expressed “absolute confidence” in his re-election in next month’s legislative elections. In Brussels for his first European Council, the newly appointed chancellor and member of the Social...

Direct talks between the five biggest NATO members and Russia on the Ukrainian crisis are causing nervousness in Estonia. Negotiations over the heads of small nations are evoking memories of the Molotov-Ribbentrop agreement between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany....

As Sweden’s new Social Democrat Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson attended her first European Council summit on Thursday, a debate over the inclusion of nuclear energy in the EU’s taxonomy dominated the Riksdag’s Committee on EU Affairs. Although COVID-19, high energy...

A “very significant wave” of Omicron infections is coming to Ireland, Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin has warned as the country’s National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) met on Thursday to consider new restrictions. The cabinet will to meet on Friday to...

Of the five million people who remain unvaccinated in France, 110,000 are using a fake COVID certificates, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin told public TV channel France 2 on Thursday. The minister said 400 investigations are currently ongoing. These have so...

Berlin wants to purchase vaccine doses from Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Portugal to secure supply for its booster campaign. The European Commission has also approved the early delivery of 35 million Moderna doses to Germany, the new health minister told...

According to Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer, the Austrian opposition to the integration of nuclear energy in the EU-taxonomy has borne fruit, as the final conclusions of the European Council summit do not make any reference to the controversial issue. “We...

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron held their press conference after the last EU summit of the year together. The two heads of state emphasised their shared stance on the most issues – like Ukraine, migration and...

Over 50 healthcare workers in Spanish hospitals have tested positive for COVID-19, and nearly 80 are in isolation after social events, health authorities announced on Thursday. Thirty-two medical personnel at the Severo Ochoa hospital in Madrid got infected after 50...

The government of The Netherlands plans to invest €500 million to complement other energy sources, according to the coalition agreement detailing the renewed coalition government’s goals for the 2021-2025 legislative period. According to the 50-page long document published Wednesday (15 December), nine...

The Slovenian anti-graft watchdog has launched an investigation into Prime Minister Janez Janša over a suspected conflict of interest after a lawyer who has represented him and his party for over a decade was appointed to the board of the...

L'UE a fait une déclaration sur la Tunisie prenant bonne note de l’annonce faite par le Président de la République tunisienne à propos des échéances politiques majeures en 2022 et du calendrier de leur mise en œuvre.

The leaders of the EU institutions signed a Joint Declaration identifying key legislative priorities for 2022, and welcomed progress on the 2021 priorities.

Council and European Parliament reach provisional deal to update EU law which protects workers from carcinogens and mutagens.

Slovenia's Foreign Minister Anže Logar met his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian in Paris on Thursday (16 December) to present the achievements of the Slovenian presidency of the Council of the EU and to continue work on key European dossiers.

Several European supermarket chains are dropping Brazilian beef products linked to destruction of the Amazon rainforest and tropical wetland, the US activist group Mighty Earth said on Thursday (16 December).

Written by Anita Orav.

Each year, 18 December is observed as International Migrants’ Day. So designated by the United Nations General Assembly on 4 December 2000, in response to increasing migration in the world, the day aims to draw attention to the human rights of migrants and highlight their contribution to our societies.

Background

The number of international migrants in the world has grown rapidly over the past two decades. The UN reports that the global number reached 281 million in 2020, as compared to 221 million in 2010 and 173 million in 2000. Nearly two thirds of all international migrants live either in Europe (87 million) or North America (59 million), followed by northern Africa and western Asia (50 million combined). This new reality creates challenges as well as opportunities for the societies in both regions of origin and of destination.

Global cooperation on migration

On 19 September 2016, all 193 UN member states adopted the New York Declaration, making a set of commitments aimed at strengthening the protection of people on the move. The declaration led to the adoption on 17 December 2018 of two new global compacts – on refugees and on migrants – which established a new international framework for support to refugees and host communities. The process also relaunched a call to improve data on migration. Because of the lack of legal identification, many migrants remain ‘invisible’, as they are not registered. While it might be too soon to say how the UN member states will implement this recommendation and, given the fact that international data are scarce, a priority should be given to international efforts to collect, analyse and share migration data.

Migration management in the EU

The EU and its Member States have shared competence as regards migration. In recent years, the priority accorded to migration has found reflection in the EU budget, with €22.7 billion allocated to migration and security over the 2021-2027 period. Acknowledging that Europe has to move away from ad hoc solutions and put in place a predictable and reliable migration management system, the EU is seeking ways to increase legal channels to the EU, be it through the EU Blue Card for labour mobility, resettlement or community sponsorship. At the same time, the national and local levels are mostly in charge of integrating migrants into the host society, by giving them access to the labour market, language training and education.

European Parliament position

The European Parliament has advocated a humane, solidarity-based and common approach to migration in its various resolutions and reports. In its resolution of 12 April 2016 on the situation in the Mediterranean and the need for a holistic EU approach to migration, the Parliament emphasised the need for developing safe and lawful routes for asylum-seekers and refugees into the EU. In its 2017 resolution on addressing refugee and migrant movements: the role of EU external action, the Parliament recalled that international migration can contribute to socio-economic development, as it has done historically, and called on governments to address migration as a regular human phenomenon. Furthermore, taking into consideration that total labour supply in the euro area is projected to fall by 13 % (20 million people) between 2019 and 2070, the Parliament has encouraged the development of adequate legal economic migration channels, most recently in its resolution of 25 November 2021. To respond to Europe’s demographic challenges and to match migrants’ skills with labour market needs effectively, Parliament is asking for an update of EU rules on legal labour migration by the end of January 2022.

Read this ‘at a glance’ on ‘International Migrants’ Day – 18 December‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.