Tampere and the Politics of Migration and Asylum in the EU: Looking Back to Look Forwards

• Author: Andrew Geddes
• Profession: Professor of Migration Studies and Director of the Migration Policy Centre, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute, Florence, Italy
• Pages: 7-17

7

1. TAMPERE AND THE POLITICS

OF MIGRATION AND ASYLUM

IN THE EU: LOOKING BACK TO

LOOK FORWARDS1

Andrew Geddes

1. Introduction

“Immigration has Europe in a pickle. With ageing populations

and low birth rates, the European Union needs more people.

But EU countries are already taking in plenty of foreigners, and

many struggle to integrate. Popular resentment of immigration is

increasing, and may rise further as economies slow and unemploy-

ment climbs. Meanwhile hundreds of illegal migrants risk life and

limb on leaky boats to get to Europe every week”.2

While these words could have been written in 2020, they

actually appeared in e Economist in October 2008 in an article

that explored progress made since the Tampere and Hague Pro-

grammes of 1999 and 2004 and argued that these had struggled

to achieve their objectives, not least because of an unwillingness

to consider pathways for regular migration to EU countries. e

1 is chapter draws from research conducted as part of a European Research Council

Advanced Grant awarded to Andrew Geddes for the project Prospects for International

Migration Governance (MIGPROSP), award numb er 340430.

2 e Economist, ‘Letting some of them in’, 2 October 2008.

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