ECIPE Lunch Roundtable. Migrant Workers: A Burden or a Boon to EU Economies?

The EU is stepping up its common approach towards immigration policies, and immigration is one of the priorities of the current French presidency. But do the policies adopted respond to Europe’s needs? The newly approved "return directive", for instance, allows governments to detain illegal migrants for up to 18 months. Beyond a question of fundamental human rights, is an approach based on restricting migration economically sound in today’s ageing and increasingly services-oriented European societies? While the focus has long been on the costs of immigration to Europe’s welfare states, an increasing number of studies are suggesting that freer international migration could bring huge economic benefits to Europe.