Labour immigration policy in the EU: a renewed agenda for Europe 2020. CEPS Policy Brief No. 240, 3 April 2011

The EU’s capacity to implement a legitimate and coherent policy on labour immigration that complies with the rights of migrants faces enormous challenges in light of the political priorities set in the EU’s 2020 Strategy and the effects of the recent revolutions and war in North Africa. This Policy Brief examines the incoherencies characterising the current generation of EU labour immigration policies and the challenges of ensuring a global rights-based approach to migration. The analysis carried out in this paper is accompanied by a synthesis of the main policy recommendations discussed at the Workshop on “The Next Phase of EU Labour Immigration Policy: Enhancing Policy Coherence and Advancing a Rights-Based Approach” organised in the context of the Conference “State of the Union: Brussels Think Tank Dialogue 2011” in January 2011