Growing remittance industry

Policy Brief

Focus on the one billion people supported by migrants

This policy brief is centred around remittances. While they may be in the form of either cash or goods to support their families and may be sent through various channels (such as digital services, post office and money operators), official statistics often do not entirely capture these flows and their broad scope. The official reference limits remittances to two items in the balance of payments framework: personal transfers and compensation of employees.

Furthermore, the limited tracking and collection of remittance data among countries impacts regional and global reporting. This brief intends to discuss remittances in the broader sense, despite data limitations. It also offers recommendations to EU policymakers centred around remittances as a game changer, the need for a balanced narrative on migration and the recognition of a new Africa, which has matured in its knowledge and skills base.

Progressive Migration Group

FEPS, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung EU Office and Fondation Jean-Jaurès came together to establish the Progressive Migration Group (PMG). The group, chaired by Anna Terron Cusi and composed of African and European migration experts, explores 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 focuses on how these complex relations have been interpreted and translated into policies by the EU institutions, mostly aimed at curbing (irregular) migration by externalising migration control and management. This is a component of EU policy still prevailing in the (New) Pact for Asylum and Migration.

The PMG formulates alternative migration schemes between Africa and Europe that take on board this more profound understanding of this nexus.