Spring til hovednavigation Spring til søgning Spring til hovedindhold

Problems chasing missing solutions: the politics of placing emigration on the EU agenda

  • Cecilia Bruzelius*
    • *Corresponding author af dette arbejde

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › peer review

Abstract

Despite emigrations’adverse impacts on several EU Member States, especiallyin Central Eastern Europe, topics like brain drain and depopulation havereceived relatively little attention at EU level compared to concernsassociated with free movement and immigration. This article offers an answerto why this is so. Drawing on agenda-setting theory, it argues that theinstitutional framework of the EU both inhibits and disincentivises attemptsto turn emigration into an EU level topic. Seen through the lens of the EUpolicy, regulating emigration becomes a matter of cohesion policy, whichmakes it both difficult and unattractive to lobby. To assess the argumentempirically, the article draws on elite interviews with national and EUpolicymakers and document analysis from 2010 to 2023. The analysis revealsa structural bias of the EU and offers an example of how pertinent politicalissues fail to become EU topics.
OriginalsprogEngelsk
TidsskriftJournal of European Public Policy
Vol/bind32
Udgave nummer1
Sider (fra-til)296-321
ISSN1350-1763
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2025

Bibliografisk note

Funding Information:
That emigration has been a national political topic is reflected also at EU level. National governments officially recognise emigration as a socioeconomic challenge, as evident in the Country Specific Recommendations, which are prepared by the Commission and Member States together as part of the European Semester. Emigration is explicitly mentioned as a cause of labour shortages and population decline in several Recommendations since 2013. Interviewees confirmed that national governments have voiced concerns about emigration and associated labour force losses and adverse demographic impacts at least since the increase in emigration following the 2008 economic crisis. Baltic governments were frequently mentioned by Commission interviewees as those stressing emigration challenges, which were supported by the vice president of the Juncker Commission – the former Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis (C1; C2; C3). Croatia and Romania were also often pointed out as Member States that have actively highlighted emigration and its consequences (C1, C2; C9; PR2), and both countries raised the topic in their respective Council presidency programmes (Croatia, ; Romania, , p. 35). Visegrád governments have also highlighted problems on different occasions but were not referred to as having actively tried to flag the topic. Southern European governments specifically raised the issue of brain drain when young citizens left during the economic crisis (C1; C3). Since then, political elites in Italy and Spain however appear more troubled by emigrations’ role in emptying regions than in contributing significantly to national population or labour force losses (C2, C1).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Finansiering

That emigration has been a national political topic is reflected also at EU level. National governments officially recognise emigration as a socioeconomic challenge, as evident in the Country Specific Recommendations, which are prepared by the Commission and Member States together as part of the European Semester. Emigration is explicitly mentioned as a cause of labour shortages and population decline in several Recommendations since 2013. Interviewees confirmed that national governments have voiced concerns about emigration and associated labour force losses and adverse demographic impacts at least since the increase in emigration following the 2008 economic crisis. Baltic governments were frequently mentioned by Commission interviewees as those stressing emigration challenges, which were supported by the vice president of the Juncker Commission – the former Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis (C1; C2; C3). Croatia and Romania were also often pointed out as Member States that have actively highlighted emigration and its consequences (C1, C2; C9; PR2), and both countries raised the topic in their respective Council presidency programmes (Croatia, ; Romania, , p. 35). Visegrád governments have also highlighted problems on different occasions but were not referred to as having actively tried to flag the topic. Southern European governments specifically raised the issue of brain drain when young citizens left during the economic crisis (C1; C3). Since then, political elites in Italy and Spain however appear more troubled by emigrations’ role in emptying regions than in contributing significantly to national population or labour force losses (C2, C1).

Adgang til dokumentet

Biblioteksadgang?

Tjek tilgængelighed hos det Kgl. Bibliotek

Citationsformater