Managing migration How Italy, France and Germany can work together?

Policymakers & Experts Roundtable, 16 October 2018 Hosted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation

Guests

Silvia Francescon, Head of ECFR's Rome office

Susi Dennison, Director of ECFR European Power programme

Paolo Crudele, Central Director for Migration, Italian MFA

Sebastian Groth, German MFA

Alexandre Escorcia, French MFA

 Corinne Balleix, Sciences-Po Paris

Jonathan Chaloff, OECD, International Migration Division

Luigi Estero, Head of JHA Unit, D.G. for European, Italian MFA

Ferruccio Pastore, International and European Forum of Migration Research in Turin

Friedrich Birgelen, German Embassy in Abuja

Virginie Collombier, European University Institute in Florence

Claudia Gazzini, International Crisis Group

 David Kipp, SWP

Giuseppe Perrone, Ambassador of Italy to Libya

José Antonio Sabadell, Spanish MFA

Federico Soda, IOM Rome

Armando Barucco, Italian MFA

Chaired by

Shoshana Fine, ECFR

Tarek Megerisi, ECFR

Andrew Lebovich, ECFR

Session 1 | Migration sources, trends and expected developments



How are migratory flows likely to evolve in future years? How might conflict, environmental and demographic trends impact rates of emigration? These flows are likely to produce significant humanitarian challenges that require more than ad hoc emergency responses to individual events – what ways forward for ensuring humane and efficient migration management? Is EU migration policy really focused on root causes? And alternately, is the framework of “root causes” sufficient in dealing with actual drivers of migration?

Session 2 | Towards a comprehensive European Mediterranean policy



What’s wrong with simply trying to close borders? What’s the difference between open borders, and managing borders? It seems that smugglers profit regardless of the policy instituted, what’s the best way to combat smuggling networks? How can Europe develop its relationship and working partnership on the migration issue with the transit countries of North Africa? How can already deployed European policy tools like Operation Sophia and the EU Border Assistance Mission to Libya (EUBAM) be improved upon? What’s the real difference between asylum seekers and economic migrants considering they both arrive on the same boat? How can European governments try to change their local conversations on migration to create a more amenable environment for creative policy-solutions?

Session 3 | Trilateral cooperation in the Sahel



Have member state policies in Libya and Niger undermined regional stability in the name of managing migration? While experts now agree that security and development must coexist to bring stability, what role does governance play in devising and implementing the projects associated with the Alliance pour le Sahel? And is the Alliance the right mechanism for dealing with these issues? How can and should the Alliance and the G5 Sahel work together in a broader stabilisation framework?