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Migration control at the borders was one of the key concerns of European governments before the COVID--19 hit our continent. However, the pandemic has shown how migrants have become key frontline workers providing essential services during this crisis in many Member States. This podcast discusses the way in which COVID-19 may transform European policies and narratives on migration.
COVID-19 has the potential of changing the way in which European governments and societies regard migrants, as evidenced by the initiatives adopted by some Member States on regularizing migrants’ work status and granting them access to healthcare. However, the economic impact of the pandemic may soon put migrants in the spot of xenophobic parties and movements. The pandemic will thus place the EU in a situation to choose between different policy options: migrants are not only essential workers but also entrepreneurs by nature and will contribute to the recovery from the crisis but the recession will also be a test for integration policies, and the EU must find ways to work with local and regional stakeholders in this challenge. Political agendas are likely to keep Member States divided and as political attention turns to the recession border externalisation will remain in the EU policy mix options.
Listen to the debate with:
Abdoulaye Fall: has a PhD in Demography from the UAB Centre for Demographic Studies. He is Hello Spain Director and collaborates in ACAF as Program Manager combining this responsibility with savings groups creation, training and assessment with tracking and organization of training activities in the field of micro finance and community organization
Laura Batalla: is Ashoka's Hello Europe’s Policy Representative in Brussels, a position that she combines with an advisory role to a Member of the European Parliament on foreign policy.
Ruth Ferrero: Adjunct Profesor of Political Science and Senior Research Fellow, Complutense Institute of International Studies (ICEI)
Moderation: Carlos Carnicero Urabayen.
Technical production and edition: Franco Delle Donne.
An OpenEUpodcast produced by Agenda Pública.
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A series of ten podcasts by the Jean Monnet OpenEUdebate network. Each podcast features debates among experts from academia, civil society and politics on the effect of the pandemic on different scenarios for the future of the European Union.
This podcast series has been made with the financial support of the European Union Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). The podcasts only reflect the views of the speakers and the Commission and the Agency cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.