Immigration in the European Union in the Second Decade of the 21st Century: Problem or Solution?

Abstract

This article presents immigration as an important issue discussed within European Union (EU). The author shows some statistics on international migration, population stocks of national and foreign (non-national) citizens. In destination countries, international migration may be used as a tool to solve specific labour market shortages. At the same time though, international migration alone will almost certainly not reverse the ongoing trend of population ageing experienced in many parts of the EU. The main aim of this paper is to show that immigration is one of the most efficient objects of interest to European Union citizens and leaders. In the interest of the EU and its Member States is therefore to show that they are developing an overall strategy for managing migration for the benefit of all stakeholders: the European Union, its citizens, migrants and the source countries of migration. Migration policies within the EU are increasingly concerned with attracting a particular migrant profile, often in an attempt to alleviate specific skills shortages. Besides policies to encourage labour recruitment, immigration policy is often focused on two areas: preventing irregular migration and the illegal employment of migrants who are not permitted to work, and promoting the integration of immigrants into society. In the EU, significant resources have been mobilised to fight people smuggling and trafficking networks.