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Europe needs a common, united policy for migration, now more than ever.
Migration tends to be a divisive issue. It raises many concerns among many of our citizens. These concerns need to addressed, whether we believe them to be fully based on facts or not. We need to find such answers to these concerns that honour and strengthen core human rights.
The human rights of migrants can only be properly fulfilled if they are sufficiently integrated into the societies they are migrating to.
Integration and inclusion do not come free. They require tackling practical issues such as language training, education and access to childcare so that people can join the workforce. I believe integration can be one of the issues where we can and should find consensus, regardless of how we think about migration in general.
All the possible responses to migration require not only political will but also resources. However, the long-term results we reap vary depending on how we divide our efforts. If we exhaust our resources on tightening our borders, at one extreme with harsh military force, we have little left on integration. No border control is ever perfect, and inevitably people will still arrive into our societies. Integrating these people is not free, but may decide not only their own well-being but also long-term effects on economies and public finances.
To respond to the current crisis, a wide pack of tools is needed. There is no magic bullet. We need to see different policy tools as supplementary to each other.
To give some examples, we need to help countries of origin and transit on such everyday issues as the opportunity to work in refugee camps. This is an opportunity for cooperation not only between our governments but also between the public and the private and third sector. Second, we should cooperate to strengthen democracy and human rights also beyond our borders, to help reduce the risk of future crises. Third, we need new and better legal routes of migration.
Still, regardless of many efforts to reduce the root causes of migration, Europe must still find ways to share the responsibility of people who will make their way to our continent. Europe as a whole will benefit if we can share the challenges and opportunities of migration together.
Europe that has a comprehensive, holistic policy to handle it can turn migration to be, not only a challenge, but also an opportunity and an asset. However, like most things in life, opportunities do not come free. Decisions, action and resources are urgently needed.