Matching Europe’s growing demand for highly-skilled labour is becoming every day more difficult. The EU is eager to attract highly-skilled immigrants in order to fill its looming demographic crisis and related skills shortage. However, the EU faces a tough context with the global economic crisis that forces developed countries to protect their markets, and with a hard competition from major industrialized countries. And, protectionism does not offset the demographic crisis in the EU in the longer term.

Lacking a common response to the contemporary challenges posed by labour migration, the EU Member States struggle to attract and retain top talents. EU immigration policies are not coherent with policies on the national level while Member States continuously confront common European rules initiatives by ascertaining their sovereignty. Consequently, integration policies on the national level are ineffective. Paradoxical to efforts of attracting foreign specialists, the potentials of non-integrated skilled migrant residents and international students is wasted, i.e. by non-recognition of qualifications and inadequate integration and employment policies.

The conference will focus on the discussion of issues above and of potentials for a comprehensive and coherent approach to European immigration policy which takes account of employment, integration and development policy aspects, and the current labour market situation in the Member States.