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Sami Nair: "We are experiencing dramatic moments with migration issues that threaten to tear the EU apart"

Anna Terrón and Sami Nair inaugurated the series of five dialogues on “The quest for prosperity: challenges of migration” organized by the Fundación Ernest Lluch and the Ivie

“The quest for prosperity: challenges of migration” is a series of five dialogues promoted by the Ernest Lluch Foundation and the Ivie, in collaboration with the Bancaja Foundation. The first participants in the 2019 series have been Sami Nair (French philosopher and political expert) and Anna Terrón (Director of the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies, FIIAPP) who gave their views on the migration policies of the European Union.  The Valencian Regional Minister for Finance, Vicent Soler, and the Director of the Ivie, Francisco Pérez, were in charge of inaugurating the series of dialogues.

Both speakers agreed that the main problem is the lack of a common EU policy on immigration and the fact that each country acts in its own interests. Sami Nair warned that the EU is experiencing dramatic moments regarding migration that threaten to tear it apart. He added that “immigration is not the cause of the economic and social crisis, for the EU, for Brexit or for eastern countries, but it is being used to generate conflicts between countries with different approaches to immigration management”.

Anna Terrón stated that it is impossible to promote the idea of a single European area without borders as long as there are 27 different migration policies. In her opinion, EU countries, with their actions, are “offloading their responsibility for a complex issue”, further stating that “we need to assume this responsibility and develop a common migration policy acceptable and adhered to by all member states”.

Sami Nair added that such a common EU migration policy needs to be supported by dialogue with frontier countries so as to develop a joint strategy. He also called for an EU-level summit on migration.

With this first dialogue, the Ernest Lluch Foundation, the Ivie and the Bancaja Foundation join forces to draw attention to the challenges of migration. The remaining four dialogues in the series are as follows:

• September 25th. Dialogue 2: Migration and welfare state sustainability. Can national solutions work? José Antonio Herce (Associate Director of AFI) and Francisco Javier Moreno (Senior Researcher at the Institute of Public Goods and Policy at CSIC)
• October 15th. Dialogue 3: Democracy, diversity policies and prosperity in Europe. Gemma Pinyol-Jiménez (Head of Migration Policies and Diversity at Instrategies) and Hector Cebolla (Professor in the Sociology II Department at the UNED)
• October 28. Dialogue 4: From the rise of populisms to Brexit: economic grounds and impact on mobility. Fernando Fernández (International Consultant and IE Business School Professor) and Sandra León (PhD in Political Sciences from UAM and Juan March Institute of Study and Research)
• November 12. Dialogue 5: International competition for talent: territorial risks and opportunities.  Ana Revenga (Senior fellow at the Global Economy and Development at Brookings Institution and President of the Board of ISEAK) and Teresa Coelho (HR Leader in Spain and Executive Committee Member at KPMG).