European Union Immigration Policy

Data Matrix for the article

Abstract: This article analyzes patterns of global migration during the last five years, often associated with the “European refugee crisis” since summer 2015, documented by the World Bank Bilateral Migration Matrix data (BMM). Based on cross-national data, gathered and documented for this analysis, the article also provides first quantitative analyses of the predictable effects of the rising migration from the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) countries on the societies of the host countries. With around a third of the total immigrant population originating from OIC countries, the growing future Muslim presence in European politics and economics is not a fantasy but a reality. The European Union has become the world’s leading magnet of global migration, with around a fifth of global migration now flowing into the EU countries. Europe seems to have found – as yet – no coherent answer to this. It takes little imagination to realize that the expected monumental shifts in the underlying demographics of Western countries, caused by Muslim mass migration, may have very serious and even dramatic effects on the future support for the state of Israel and on its backing among the populations of the leading Western military and economic powers. The article shows that in the wake of the so-called Arab Spring, rich Arab immigration-hosting countries, hitherto the main recipients of OIC migration, became more restrictive in their immigration policies, while a considerable proportion of OIC migration now turned to Europe, accelerated by the instabilities wrought by the civil war in Syria. Contrary to the assumptions of the dominant “welcome culture” in the media and the academia of most West European countries, the negative social and political consequences of this mass migration, especially for gender relations and the overall inequality dimensions, cannot be overlooked and are spelled out in this article, relying on multivariate analysis of the relevant international cross-national data.

Migration in the New Europe: East-West Revisited responds to demand for a study on migration and policy developments in the light of European Union enlargement. The innovative character of the book is its approach to the emerging European migration space. The editors argue that the concept of a common European migration space will replace the traditional division into East and West because of two simultaneous processes: the ongoing European Union enlargement and the creation of a common European Union immigration policy.

Migration in the New Europe: East-West Revisited responds to demand for a study on migration and policy developments in the light of European Union enlargement. The innovative character of the book is its approach to the emerging European migration space. The editors argue that the concept of a common European migration space will replace the traditional division into East and West because of two simultaneous processes: the ongoing European Union enlargement and the creation of a common European Union immigration policy.