EU Institutions Promoting High-Skilled Migration for Innovation & Growth

This project seeks to understand the role different European Union (EU) institutions play in the global competition for highly-skilled migrant professionals. While EU member states still retain sovereignty over the long-term admission of third country nationals, the EU Commission, Council and Parliament have started to propose and push policy initiatives related to high-skilled migration. Triggered by the 2008/09 economic downturn and the recent ‘migration crisis’ (2015/16), the policy context has fundamentally changed. Analyzing the EU’s earlier policy initiatives and based on elite interviews with representatives of EU institutions, member states and industry and other lobby groups in Brussels, this project addresses important gaps in scholarship and policy-related understanding. It examines the change of positions and strategies on high-skilled migration. To what extent are EU institutions still lobbying for greater openness to highly-skilled migration? What policies are currently envisioned? How do different member states position themselves? And to what extent is industrial lobbying impacting on EU policy initiatives in the area of high-skilled migration?

Faculty Supervisor:

Martin Geiger

Student:

Partner:

Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Public Service, Policy, and Governance; Technology; Other

University:

Carleton University

Program: