European Commission: Migration Policy Centre
23 April 2008
Main objectives of the Centre
The EMPC will provide short-term policy advice and address the growing need for migration governance as well conducting long-term, structural, research.
Specific tasks will be:
1. Linking research with action
The centre will develop specific tools to ensure that research serves policy-making and actions. It will provide policy-makers and other stakeholders with methodologies that address migration governance needs, such as: implementing and monitoring migration policies; assessing their impact on the economy and society; managing migration in order to respond to labour market needs in host countries; optimising the impact of migration on development in source countries; and any other objectives that emerge as policy priorities and require specific methodologies.
2. Carry out policy-oriented research
The centre will provide state-of-the-art analytical results on current issues relevant to policymaking, as well as forward looking studies. The centre will also support the production and efficient utilisation of databases on the main dimensions of migration: demographic, economic, social, legal and political, including the collection of good and bad practices.
3. Pooling scholars, experts and influential thinkers
The centre will draw together construct a large pool of scholars and influential thinkers to advance European and global thinking on migration issues. This will be done with the aim of building up scientific links with scholars established in all concerned countries. Migration realities will be put into a single and shared scientific framework that favours a better understanding of migratory processes.
4. Offering a venue for discussion
The Centre will also bring together different stakeholders for open and frank debates. It will foster consultations and exchanges of viewpoints among policy-makers and migration stakeholders, public and private, from EU countries and from non-EU countries of origin and transit. It will provide a forum for confronting and discussing ideas and opinions among participants with diverging interests, while maintaining its independence with high-quality scientific standards. Thanks to its large and diversified pool of experts, the centre will be able to organise ad hoc debates at short notice at the request of the EU and its Member States.
Staff and organisational structure
The EUI will anchor the management of the EMPC, from a base in the Robert Schuman Centre. The Centre will be governed by a Director supported by a scientific committee. EMPC will develop a strong in-house research capacity on migration and asylum issues and be connected with a broad multinational and multidisciplinary pool of scholars and experts, as well as with leading research and operational institutions in the EU and around the world. It will also forge solid scientific links in countries of migrant origin and transit, where knowledge on the causes and consequences of migration is much needed but currently scarce.
Timing and financing
Vice-President Frattini has requested the swift establishment of the EMPC – the aim is for it to open in the autumn of 2008. The financial support will come from the European University Institute, external funding from private and public sources and contributions will be made by sponsoring institutions and foundations. The Commission is reviewing the possibilities for EU funding.