News 10. 2016: Klaus F. Zimmermann on “European Migration Challenges”
On three occasions, Zimmermann spoke about research findings of migration economics and their implications for the economy and society at large. He thinks that Europe needs more temporary and permanent migration for economic and demographic reasons. Such immigration would be beneficial, as it has been in the past. The current refugee stream is neither economically problematic nor the solution for the European labor market challenges. The refugee crisis is a crisis of policymaking and the European institutions. Zimmermann criticized the decisions of European governments to close the borders for refugees and suggested that it is impossible to “defend” the South border of Europe. For humanitarian migrants there cannot be an upper limit. A better long-term policy is needed to reduce the causes of refugee flows and illegal economic migration in the South of Europe. A proper strategy needs to include quotas for EU member states, a legal inflow of asylum seekers and refugees into Europe and legal channels for work (circular migration and immigration).
Vienna (February 25, 2016). Keynote Address to the Board of the Austrian Industriellenvereinigung (Federation of Austrian Industries) on “Aktuelle Herausforderungen der europäischen Integration” (Recent Challenges of European Integration).
Halle (March 3, 2016). Panel debate about “Brauchen wir Verstärkung? Zuwanderung und demographischer Wandel in Deutschland” (Do we need migrants?) organized by Leopoldina (the German Academy of Science) and the Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung Halle (IWH) in the Leopoldina headquarter. The panel consisted of Josef Ehmer (University of Vienna), Reint E. Gropp (IWH), Barbara John (Deutscher Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband), Christine Langenfeld (Sachverständigenrat deutscher Stiftungen für Integration und Migration), Norbert F. Schneider (Bundesinstitut für Bevölkerungsforschung) and Klaus F. Zimmermann. It was directed by Dorothea Siems (“Die Welt”, major German newspaper). Zimmermann is a member of the Leopoldina.
Antwerp (March 11, 2016). Panel debate around “The Economics of Migration” at the bi-annual VvE-Day of Economic Research organized by the Flemish Society of Economics (VvE) in collaboration with the National Bank of Belgium and all the five Flemish Universities (University of Leuven, Ghent University, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Hasselt University, University of Antwerp) at the University of Antwerp. The other panel members were Alan Manning (London School of Economics), Andreas Tirez (prominent Flemish blogger), and Joren Vermeersch (communication advisor with the Flemish Cabinet of the State Secretary of Asylum Policy and Migration) under the moderation of Walter Nonneman (University of Antwerp).
In the context of the panel presentation, Zimmermann gave interviews with the following Flemish media: De Standaard, De Tijd and Trends. Trends has already publishes a larger article on the Website . See also the printed article in Trends and the article in De Tijd.
