A lecture on the European Union: History, Law and Institutions entitled "“Migration to Europe: Between Economics and Politics”

On Thursday October 20th,    2011the Ibrahim Abu-Lughod Institute of International Studies hosted Dr. Phillipe Fargues, a demographer and the Director of the Migration Policy Centre at the European University Institute for a lecture within a course entitled “The European Union: History, Law and Institutions.”The title of the lecture was “Migration to Europe: Between Economics and Politics.” Dr. Fargues presented issues such as the definition of migration, migration within EU countries, migration levels and trends and migration-related challenges facing the EU. He explained that Europe is facing a demographic crisis due to an increase in the old age ratio, suggesting that this can be compensated through migration into EU states.  

Dr. Fargues began his lecture by defining migration as the crossing of a border, based on two criteria: migrants must be citizens of a "legal" nationality, and the country he/she seeks to migrate from is the country of birth. He likewise referred to the 1951 Geneva Convention defining a refugee as a person who fled the country of his nationality due to fear of persecution for political, racial or religious reasons; Dr. Fargues emphasized that this definition does not apply to Palestinian refugees, who are defined according to the UNRWA as those whose normal place of residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May1948 and who lost their homes and livelihoods as result of the 1948 war.

He then spoke of the European Union and how it deals with migration, the issue normally being associated with a state’s sovereignty rather than that of the EU. Regarding levels of migration, the number of refugees worldwide is declining and is now estimated at a ratio of 10.5%. Yet there appears to be an increase in the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs), and this indicates that borders are simply more difficult to cross.

Dr. Fargues also noted that Europe is relatively speaking a minor recipient of refugees, especially over the last thirty years. Moreover due to the serious economic crisis, which hit Europe and the world in 2008, this has been translated into negative policies towards immigration. He then spoke of the impact of globalization on migration, whereby the globalization of knowledge and economy are two factors which encourage migration.

He also addressed the demographic, economic and integrative challenges the EU faces. For instance, the economic crisis led to an increase in unemployment, the demographic challenge is manifested in the continuous increase in the number of old age, and lastly the integrative challenge is evident in the increasing diversity of origins and cultural backgrounds. Dr. Fargues ended the lecture by questioning whether the riots in ethnic neighborhoods can be interpreted as an indicator of failed integration or is  not perhaps an indication of integration in the making.