Session 1: Between Mobilisation and Isolation: EU and Migration Trends

Session 1: Between Mobilisation and Isolation: EU and Migration Trends

(in cooperation with the Fund for an Open Society in Serbia)

Discussion Topics:

• What are the responses to the refugee crisis in Europe’s neighbourhood, from countries that take in refugees (e.g. Turkey, Lebanon, Tunis, Russia…), transit countries (e.g. Balkans) and the EU?
• How has the economic crisis influenced migration policy and practice in the EU and its member states?
• How successful is the unified asylum system in the EU?
• Who can be identified as the champions and who the bad examples regarding the integration of migrants of into their societies?
• Is the EU policy of recruitment of highly qualified labour destabilising the societies that these people come from? How feasible is the idea of developing circular labour migration to the EU?
• How can media coverage help or hinder the status of migrants?

Speakers:

Amb. Piotr Świtalski‚ Director of Policy Planning, Council of Europe

Dejan Keserović‚ Coordinator for Central Asia, International Organisation for Migration (IOM)

Vladimir Petronijević‚ Executive Director, Group 484

Despina Syrri‚ Director of the Council of Europe Network School of Political Studies, Greece and President of Symbiosis

Ivana Krstić‚ Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade (Moderator)