Progressive Migration Group meeting

“Migration is not about numbers, it is about people. Behind the numbers, there are men, women, children, all with their own unique feelings, experiences, fears, hopes, and stories; each with their dignity and their right to strive for a better life. As the way we deal with migration will affect their right to move and lead a decent life, and the stability and cohesion of the receiving communities, progressive migration and integration policies must be grounded in humanity and solidarity and imply the utter rejection of measures, initiatives and practices that can harm human dignity.

Even though migration is reaching unprecedented levels in the present global context, we must recognise that this is not an emergency: migration is a structural and ordinary feature of our contemporary world, and short-term, simplistic and narrow policy responses will not only not ‘solve the problem’, but will likely make the consequences of mismanagement more severe. As the reasons for migration are rooted in the uneven development and distribution of wealth, in the conflicts and persecutions, and in the ravages of nature and climate change, it is only at the global level that migration can be effectively governed and it is the current global architecture that needs to be changed“. 

In ‘10 points of reference for a progressive narrative on migration‘

FEPS Global Migration Group
On the above premises, FEPS, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung EU Office and Fondation Jean-Jaurès have established a new group of migration experts from Africa and Europe, the Progressive Migration Group, chaired by Anna Terron Cusi, that will continue exploring the relations and cooperation between the European Union and the countries of origin and transit, with the aspiration of abandoning the prevailing stagnant narratives surrounding migration, and above all with the ambition of formulating innovative recommendations and policy proposals for progressive forces at the EU and national levels in the field of migration management as well as in other policy areas that have an impact on migration causes and flows. In particular, the project will focus on the ways these complex relations have been interpreted and translated into policies by the EU institutions mostly aimed to curb (irregular) migration by externalising migration control and management. This is a component of EU policy that is still prevailing also in the (New) Pact for Asylum and Migration, whose proposals are now the objects of negotiations at the EU level. The Progressive Migration Group will try to formulate alternative migration schemes between Africa and Europe, that take on board this deeper understanding of this nexus.