The consequences of the future demographics of Europe can have a deep impact on the “European way of life” – in particular as the strains on financing the European welfare state occur as the large baby-boomer generations goes into retirement at the same time as the lowest fertility rate experienced since the 1960s means fewer people to pay into the system.

 

Reforms are needed, and the question is whether migration can help address these issues. It can, but only if the European economies are capable of growing enough to create the jobs, meaning that migrants can be integrated into the labour market and thus contribute to financing the welfare system. This will pose challenges as the countries with a population surplus are also those countries which have revealed to be difficult to integrate . This calls for a change – and a drastic improvement – in Europe’s integration policies, including not only a public debate about the benefits, or necessity, of migration and integration, but also a series of Europe-wide initiatives.

Before the publication of the final report presenting the key recommendations of the 16 think tanks involved in the project, 5 series of policy papers address the following key challenges: migration, EU neighbourhood, CSDP, strategic resources and economic policy.

This Policy Paper is part of the series entitled “EU migration strategy: how to respond to the unanswered demographic challenge?” which includes contributions by Ruby Gropas (Eliamep), Andreas Ette (PISM), Roderick Parkes (SWP-PISM), Alicia Sorroza and Carmen Gonzales Enriquez (Elcano), Sergio Carrera, Leonard Den Hertog and Joanna Parkin (CEPS), Thanos Maroukis and Anna Triandafylliou (Eliamep).

This project is led with the contribution of