Annual Policy Initiative 2019

ICMPD’s publication Breaking gridlocks and moving forward. Recommendations for the next five years of EU migration policy proposes 70 recommendations across eight thematic fields was prepared based on a consultation process with its Member States and engagement with other partners and stakeholders. It was designed to give impetus for the new EU Pact on Migration and Asylum and focuses on overcoming the current gridlock and move forward with a reformed agenda on the EU’s migration policy in the following areas:

• Renewing a common vision for the future of international protection in Europe and beyond
• Securing borders and safeguarding Schengen
• Making return policies and practices more effective
• Creating better functioning and proactive labour migration policies
• Putting integration back on the European agenda
• Integrating enlargement countries in Europe’s regional migration system
• Broadening cooperation agendas with partner countries
• Applying a whole-of-migration-routes approach

The momentum gained with the EU Pact offers a chance to press the political reset button and re-define the course forward for the coming five years. It is a chance to go beyond the crisis management mode and focus on building a more coherent and long-term system of regulating and managing migration.

The publication also framed discussions at the VMC2019 which was dedicated to the overarching question of how to break the current gridlock and move forward. Specific topics of relevance were taken up in roundtable discussions that brought together senior-level officials and experts to further contribute to discussing constructive, forward-looking and viable recommendations for the next five years of migration policy developments. 

1. Roundtable discussion "Geopolitical Outlook: Migration trends and regional responses"
   1. Policy Paper -  International Migration: Drivers, Factors and Megatrends A Geopolitical Outlook
   2. Infographic
2. Roundtable discussion "Getting to a credible narrative on migration and migration policies" 
   1. Policy Paper - Establishing a Credible Narrative on Migration and Migration Policy
   2. Graphic Recording
3. Roundtable discussion "The Way Forward on Skills Shortages and the Global Competition for Talent"
4. Roundtable discussion "Secondary Movements – Dimension, Motives & Possible Solutions"
5. Roundtable discussion "A complementary migration research agenda, quo vadis for the next five to ten years?"
   1. Policy Paper - A complementary Research Agenda: Quo Vadis for the Next 5-10 Years?
   2. Infographic