Europe with its ageing population and greying workforce must begin to focus on the benefits of managed migration to maintain economic growth and competitiveness, according to speakers at a high-level migration conference in Athens in May.
More than 150 of the most influential migration experts, policymakers and opinion leaders from around the world, brought together under the Greek EU Presidency called for the debate to broaden from its narrow focus on illegal immigration and asylum seekers.
Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou said that a new approach was urgently needed on migration.
Political Failure
"By allowing the debate to become monopolised by illegal immigration by placing all of our collective energy in devising ways to keep immigrants out we have failed our publics," he said.
"We must explain that immigrants come to Europe not only to improve their lives, but also to contribute to the improvement of ours as well," he continued.
This call was echoed by Italian Labour Ministry director Guido Bolaffi, who pointed to the paradox holding back a change in policy: "Europe's economy needs migrants but our societies don't want them."
Demographic experts from the United Nations and the European Commission warned that pensions ages will rise and Europe's share of the world economy will shrink unless migration is embraced as one of the tools for combatting the alarming decline in fertility.
Millions of Migrants Needed
The UN's Joseph Chamie and the EC's Constantine Fotakis echoed the results of a report published in May by the Institut FranVais des Relations Internationales, calling for Europe to admit 30 million immigrants by 2020 to sustain its economy.
Greek Public Order Minister Michalis Chryssochoides said that the Greek government had spent 600 million euros in 2002 on guarding Europe's external borders.
He emphasised the importance of balanced policies that both tackled illegal immigration and promoted managed migration flows and integration. "European migration policy not only influences everyday life of millions of people, but also defines the way we view Europe, European culture, and the promotion of this culture throughout the world," he said.
Opening the first session of the conference, former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari congratulated the Greek Presidency for its courage in taking up this sensitive issue and said: "This is a time for leadership and clear thinking."
Conference convener Demetrios Papademetriou of the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute noted: "Few issues are as complex or as civilisationally consequential as international migration. But legal, orderly, highly regulated migration can maximise benefits and minimise risks for all involved."
Shrinking Population
Giorgios Glynos, Chef de Cabinet of European Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, underlining the challenges posed by Europe's ageing and shrinking population, said: "Immigration should become a key issue in Europe's employment strategy."
He also highlighted the importance of raising awareness about the positive role of immigration, in order to combat discrimination and said that, in a communication to the Thessaloniki European Council, the Commission would call for a comprehensive European integration policy.
Europe's falling fertility rates and rapidly ageing populations, combined with the perception that illegal immigration is undermining European societies, has propelled migration policy to the top of the EU agenda.
The Greek Presidency has succeeded in securing the adoption of the first piece of EU legislation on legal migration the Commission Directive on family reunification and aims to push forward another long-delayed Commission Directive on the status of long-term residents in the Union.
For the first time, at the Spring European Council in Brussels, European leaders recognised the importance of a comprehensive migration policy for the EU's economic growth and competitiveness.
