Migration and asylum seekers: ESPON evidences

Marco Cremaschi (1)

1 CEE - Centre d'études européennes et de politique comparée (Sciences Po, CNRS)

The reception of refugees and migrants depends on the capacity of European states, regions and localities to respond to the double challenge of providing help for the first months they arrive and sustaining a long-term process in an often-heated political confrontation. Although the long-term effects are not always conclusive, national policies and local initiatives can achieve some results. Nation states have agreed on procedures and mechanisms for an equitable redistribution of refugees and cities and localities have implemented programmes and interventions for receiving and promoting the insertion of migrants. However, evidence of the geographical structure of waves of migrants and refugees is not evident due to structural constraints. Flows and routes keep changing due to the hazards of international relations; the capacity of absorbing the incoming population of refugees depending largely on policy trade-offs and political interdependencies. What is clear is that the geography of foreign-born residents, migrants and refugees do not overlap, the location choice of refugees being particularly constrained by national policy-frames. A need arises of a better understanding of the local variations and issues of the different policy responses and success stories. Geography, spatial strategies and types of cities profoundly shape the distribution of arrivals, the transit routes, and destination hubs, creating a local overburden of the policies related to reception and integration of migrants. The economic performance and demographic dynamic of regions may appear as determinant factors that influence the absorption capacity of localities (MIGRARE, 2019, pp. 35-65; pp. 99-100). Yet, some localities, often small municipalities, engage positively in the reception of refugees in less performing regions. In that respect, case studies and qualitative analysis from MIGRATUP (2018, pp. 48-49) in line with the literature on the subject, suggest that the reception of migrants and refugees may provide positive economic impact to underprivileged regions and areas, if they are able to harmonize reception and local development objectives.

Domaines: Science politique

Marco Cremaschi. Migration and asylum seekers: ESPON evidences. [Research Report] ESPON | Inspire Policy Making with Territorial Evidence. 2020, pp.26. ⟨hal-02978116⟩