Immigration

European immigration is a complex phenomenon, increasingly challenging and gaining complexity over time adding new problems. The phenomenon of migration has affected all historical periods. Although the number of migrants in relation to the world's population today is not superior to other periods of history, migration has become central purchasing for Europe in the last decades, and has transformed itself from a land of emigration to a major destination for immigration.

If in the 50s, the most developed countries of Western Europe (particularly France, Germany, Belgium and United Kingdom) began to implement programs to accommodate foreign workers in order to offset the insufficient domestic supply of labour, due requirements of reconstruction and the subsequent economic boom, today the countries facing with immigration are those bordering the Mediterranean, as Italy, Spain, Greece and Malta.

Europe is undergoing the greatest migratory emergency in its history. The problem lies not only in the Member States and regions which are the main destinations of migration flows. Immigration must be considered from a broad perspective extending across the EU, Member States, the countries of origin and transit countries that together must face the new challenges arising every day by migratory movements, including those internal to EU. A Euro-Mediterranean cooperation is therefore inescapable for all.