Divisions of labour: rethinking Europe's migration policy. Bruegel's Blueprint Series, Volume VI, October 2008

[From the Executive Summary}. There are three main migration challenges for Europe: • Flow. Migratory pressure is on the increase as the populations of poorer countries in the greater neighbourhood of the European Union become more mobile. • Stock. EU member states with a significant stock of immigrants are confronted with a major integration challenge as the aspirations of many second-generation migrants are frustrated by poor education and poor labour market performance. If integration policies fail, large ethnic underclasses may become a permanent feature in the EU. • Talent. Global competition for high-skilled workers has intensified owing to skillbiased technological change and globalisation, and the EU struggles to attract and retain top talent. With the internal mobility agenda in the aftermath of EU enlargement settled for better or for worse, the time to address the external migration challenge is now. But which part of these challenges needs to be addressed at the EU as opposed to the national level? Ultimately, this is the key question underlying the current debate on the 'pact on immigration' that is to be adopted during the French EU presidency....three priority areas for EU policy action are identified and concrete policy suggestions are developed..