Cecilia Malmström attends the opening of the Migration Policy Centre in
Florence
Today, the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Cecilia Malmström, is in
Florence to attend the official opening of the Migration Policy Centre.
Founded with the support of the European Union in January 2012, the Migration
Policy Centre (MPC) conducts research on global migration issues which are
relevant to European policies.
The launch of the MPC will be accompanied by a two-day event during which
policymakers, researchers and civil society representatives will discuss the
role of immigration in post-crisis economies;
the relationships between immigration and welfare, employment, and
innovation;
and the effects the Arab Spring may have had on EU policymaking on
immigration.
''Migration and mobility are crucial for growth and for Europe's economic
recovery.
We need to reinforce our policies and adapt them to emerging challenges.
In order to make the right choices we need reliable analysis, research, data
as well as critical and strategic thinking.
That is where the MPC has an important role to play and I am very pleased to
see that the Centre will now formally start its work," said Cecilia Malmström,
EU commissioner for Home Affairs in her keynote speech.
Main objectives of the centre
The MPC is directed by Professor Philippe Fargues at the European University
Institute (EUI), Florence.
Recognising that migration represents both an opportunity and a challenge,
the Centre's mission is to help devise policy solutions which tackle migration
challenges and promote well-managed migration strategies as a means of fostering
welfare in origin- as well as destination countries.
It will do so by producing policy-oriented research and pooling the expertise
of scholars, experts, policy makers, and influential thinkers.
Work priorities of the centre
The MPC's core research programme is currently tackling two major
developments which are profoundly affecting migration and the way that migration
is perceived in politics and by the public:
the economic crisis in Europe and the radical political changes unfolding in
the Arab region.
The Centre is also working to build and maintain regional migration
observatories along migratory routes to the EU.
Three such observatories have already been set-up by the MPC in collaboration
with a network of country-based experts:
- CARIM-South (started in 2004) covering the Southern and Eastern
Mediterranean and Sub-Saharan Africa;
- CARIM-East (started in 2011) covering the Eastern neighbourhood and the
European Union.
- CARIM-India (started in 2011) covering migration from India to the European
Union.