The paper considers the current migration trends in the European Union with the focus on the development of the country. This article identifies different categories of migrants and measures to regulate their admission. Also the paper gives the forecast of future migration to these countries and provide appropriate measures in the EU migration policy.
international migration of population, labor migration, immigrants, asylum seeking, foreign nationals, migration policy
Immigration to the EU countries has generally risen in recent decades. Overall the net inflow has often been higher than the gross inflow to the United States (Figure 1) although those figures are based upon very different criteria. In 2011 1.7 million people were estimated to have migrated to the EU from a country outside the EU-27 and 1.3 million people already living in the EU27 migrated to another Member State. Altogether over three million people immigrated to one of the EU-27 Member States, while 2.3 million left (both figures include movement between EU states; Eurostat 2013). Most immigrants from outside the EU come from countries ranked as of medium Human Development Index (HDI) status, e.g. Morocco, China, Ghana, India, Ukraine, while 6.3% came from low HDI countries, e.g. Iraq, Pakistan, Nigeria and most African countries. 34.6% came from high HDI (non-EU) countries (e.g. US, Japan) and 3.6% and 3.1% respectively from European Free Trade Area (EFTA)1and EU candidate2 countries. Most immigrants to EU countries still come from outside Europe, although the opening of Eastern Europe since has changed the balance since the 1990s.
From 2008 migration to EU most states declined in response to the economic crisis. Partly because of that, the recent European immigration scene is one of relatively incoherent and contrary trends in different countries. Immigration, and immigration policy, have been volatile. We are only slowly and with uncertainty recovering from that crisis. The problems of Eurozone countries have depressed immigration, while emigration from them has increased — mostly to Germany. That turnaround has reversed Germany’s population decline. In 2012 net immigration of 369,000 to Germany more than compensated for the excess of deaths over births (-196,000), increasing the population by 173,000 or 0.2%, the biggest increase since 1995. Earlier migration novelties of the last decade include the increased emigration of citizens of the UK, Netherlands, Germany, and the very large increase, and more recent partial ebb, of migration from the new Eastern European Accession countries (A8) to the EU, especially to those few countries that did not initially impose restrictions on labour movement after their accession in 2004 (UK, Sweden, Ireland).
Those restrictions were lifted in 2011, and the restrictions on Romania and Bulgaria, more recent EU members, must be lifted in 2014. The consequences are awaited with interest, although in truth many of those intending to emigrate have already done so illegally. The more prosperous Central and European countries (e.g. Czech Republic) have had modest net inflows of population by migration. Most have lost population by migration since 2004 or earlier (e.g. Poland, peaking at -36,000 in 2006, down to -7,000 in 2012). In the poorest countries, e.g. Bulgaria, the peak estimated outflow was -214, 000 in 2001, - 3,000 in 2012 and in Romania, peak outflow was an implausible -458,000 in 2006, -164,000 in 2007, down to -3,000 in 2012. However accurate or otherwise these figures, outflow has undoubtedly been large and (until 2014) mostly short term or illegal. In the last-named countries, this has led to severe rural depopulation and accelerating population decline, a decline reinforced by chronic
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