Europe's Migration Policy Towards the Mediterranean: The Need of Reconstruction of Policy-making. ZEI Discussion Papers, C168, 2007

[From the Introduction]. The subject of Migration has been for centuries a matter of concern; Migrants have changed the direction of world events, transformed underdeveloped countries into prosperous nations, distributed more evenly the world’s economic and political equilibrium, affected significantly the balance of power and provided new sources for survival. They also changed the ‘forces of civilisation’ in various countries including their religious composition. Migration is a complex global issue that touches every country in the world. All 190 or so sovereign states of the world are now either points of entry, transit or destination for migrants; often all three at once.(1) Yet nowhere has the subject gained more importance than in Europe. Since the end of the 1980s, there has been a growing concern in the European Union (EU) with irregular movements of people emanating from the southern shores of the Mediterranean. The issue has increasingly come to be seen as a strategic priority in almost all member states and the EU itself