Abstract

This chapter discusses the evolution of migration and development policy and politics in Europe. Policies to promote the link between migration and development serve sometimes contradictory policy goals, causing ambivalent attitudes of states towards their migrants. The European Union (EU) has played a dominant role in developing this discourse, affecting both EU member states and European states outside of the EU. This notwithstanding, large divergences in perspectives on these policy priorities exist between Western and Eastern European countries, which largely coincides with differences among migrant receiving and sending perspectives. This chapter first elaborates on how the discourse and policymaking on migration and development emerged. It then analyses the different priorities of policymaking around migration and how they lead to concrete policies, budgets and implementation. Finally, it discusses the effectiveness and coherence of these policies. The chapter concludes that policy approaches to migration and development cannot be understood without analysing the security dimension.