Introduction

The purpose of this chapter is twofold. First, to provide an overview of the characteristics and trends of inward migration in the European Union (EU), including preliminary evidence on the impact of the unfolding economic crisis on immigration. Second, to explore the universe of diverse policies that regulate migration and the patterns of differential inclusion in EU member states, by introducing the concept of national migrant integration regimes. The variety of migrant integration regimes in the EU is explored empirically by comparing indicators for integration policies, migrants’ employment characteristics and levels of immigration. As such, the chapter also provides a comparative empirical backdrop to the individual case studies and comparisons offered in the second and third parts of the book.

Migration and European social space: a brief historical overview

Migration is not a recent phenomenon in Europe. Much of Europe's history is inexorably linked to migrations, voluntary or forced, which have shaped the continent's social fabric, its historical narratives and national identities, its political economies, labour markets and welfare systems (on the history of migration in Europe, see Castles and Miller, 2009; also Bade, 2003; Moch, 1993, 2007). Major emigrations to the US or the metropolitan centres of Western Europe took place from Ireland, Scandinavia and later from Eastern Europe in the 19th century, and then Southern Europe (especially Italy and Greece) in the early 20th century. These emigrations stemmed from the exigencies of economic depredation as well as political oppression, but there were also migrations both to and from Northern and Western Europe, associated with imperial ambitions and trade. The latter continue to strongly colour immigration policies and patterns in France, the UK, Portugal and Belgium, for example. In Central and South Eastern Europe, processes of nation building in the face of the collapse of the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empires by the early 20th century involved a rather different set of circumstances than those in most of Western Europe. They were less affected by migration than by the status and political rights that should attach to non-migrant ‘national minorities’ (for example, Hungarians in Romania), and which today have an effect on migration and migration policies (see Chapter Nine).