Data on immigration and emigration flows, as well as the stock of immigrants can hardly be compared internationally. Existing definitions and concepts of what an immigrant or emigrant is, and who counts as immigrant stock and who does not, vary from country to country. Each country also differs in regards to their methodology, i.e. how these phenomena are measured – if they are statistically captured at all. Moreover there are serious differences with regard to the quality of the collected data. All these aspects also apply for EU member states and must be taken into account in the consideration of a country comparison.
Does the Crisis Make People Move?
This policy brief looks at the internal migration in the European Union (EU). Special emphasis is placed on the development of internal European mobility and migration movements after both the EU expansions in 2004 and 2007 in light of the global economic and European sovereign debt crises. The individual articles give priority to the mobility of EU citizens that take advantage of the right to freedom of movement within EU borders. Emphasis is placed on the observation of the revived tendency of South-North migration within Europe. Countries of origin and destination of these movements are put in the form of short country profiles that relate to each other. The goal of this dossier is to highlight the different facets of the current internal migration movement in the EU and to offer a point of reference to more thoroughly deal with this topic.