Internal and external dimensions of a common asylum and migration policy

Timeframe: 2008-2013
Project Manager: Jonas Eriksson, Monika Hjeds Löfmark and Pernilla Bäckman

The area of asylum and migration within and to the EU provokes several questions that deserve further analysis. To begin with, several objectives – such as safe borders, access to labour, fight against human trafficking and protection of refugees, and so forth – are pursued. The various and sometimes diverse objectives may or may not work well together when housed within the same policy framework, thus raising questions about policy coherence. Moreover, the economic and political consequences of common migration management and the potential role that migration can play in the demographic challenges that the EU faces in the future also fall within this project.

In 2013, SIEPS will publish a report on the effects on Sweden of the two eastward EU enlargements and a report on the functioning of the Schengen system. SIEPS also intends to focus on illegal immigration, in particular on human trafficking and the difficulties non-EU nationals face when attempting to legally move (or flee) to Europe.