Top Migration Experts to Meet in Athens under the Leadership of the Migration Policy Institute and the Auspices of the Greek Presidency of the EU to Discuss Migration Issues of Concern to Europe
Washington, DC – Leading migration experts, senior policymakers, and opinion leaders from throughout the advanced industrial world will gather in Athens, Greece, on May 15 & 16, to discuss the key policy challenges facing the EU and its Member States relating to migration. The discussion will draw on the best thinking and research available anywhere and will focus on the latest proposals for the reform of European Union migration policy.
“EU Governments and EU publics must work together in order to meet the challenges that migration poses and to reap its many benefits,” says Dr. Demetrios Papademetriou, Co-Director of Migration Policy Institute (MPI) and leader of the Athens Migration Policy Initiative (AMPI).
MPI is convening the conference.
“One of the Conference’s main points of departure is that the movement of people cannot be seen through just one lens. It is an economic issue, a social policy issue, an issue about culture, and a foreign policy issue. It is a multi-faceted phenomenon—and it is affecting all advanced democracies worldwide,” continues Papademetriou. “This seminal event will move the EU towards developing more coherent policies on migration – both legal and illegal – and the Greek Presidency should be commended for its willingness to move these policies forward.”
Europe’s very low fertility and rapidly aging populations, combined with the perception that immigration is out of control and is threatening legal and social order, have propelled migration policy to the top of the EU agenda. The EU and its Member States are also trying to address public concerns about the issue so that they can attract the immigrants they need to plug major gaps in EU labor markets and in the funding of their social protection schemes over the coming years.
AMPI advises the Greek Government during its January 1 – June 20, 2003 Presidency of the European Union and beyond on policies to manage migration flows better, integrate legal immigrants, and establish more effective control over the Union's external borders. AMPI’s mandate is to develop the policy framework for a comprehensive EU migration policy regime that maximizes the benefits and minimizes the costs of migration. AMPI relies on the expertise of over a dozen of the world's leading migration experts.