EPIM Policy Update December 2015

The December 2015 edition of the EPC Policy Update specifically prepared for organisations engaged in EPIM is now available online.

EPIM has commissioned the European Policy Centre (EPC), a Brussels-based think tank, to produce regular EPC Policy Updates. These focussed analyses have the aim of supporting the advocacy work being done by organisations engaged in EPIM by providing information on a range of recent EU-level policy-making, legislation and jurisprudence relevant to EPIM’s three focus areas:

(1) Asylum seekers (2) Undocumented Migrants (3) Equality, integration and social inclusion of vulnerable migrants.

This edition’s special focus includes an overview of the outcomes of a number of high-level meetings between the EU, Member States leaders and external partners, such as a meeting on the Western Balkans Migration Route, the Valletta Summit on migration and a meeting of EU heads of state and government with Turkey, in Brussels.

Other key highlights of this Policy Update include:

• The European Commision’s state of play of the measures to address the refugee crisis and the relocation commitments made by member states;
• A statistical summary of the state of affairs in the Mediterranean from UNHCR;
• The recent establishment of temporary border controls and an uncertain future for the Schengen agreement;
• The debates on the lack of long-term vision on migrant inclusion, prompted by the Paris terrorist attacks;
• The European Council and Parliament agreement on the Directive on the conditions of entry and residence of third country nationals for the purposes of research, studies, pupil exchange, remunerated and unremunerated training, voluntary service and au pairing.