European Migration Network

On this website you can find information about the EMN and its activities, as well as being able to download its reports. On this page, a general overview of the EMN is given and more detailed information about a particular topic or activity can be obtained by selecting the appropriate Menu option. An Information Leaflet, which gives a summary of the EMN, is also available.

The overall objective of the EMN is to improve the availability of, and access to, information concerning migration and asylum at European and Member State level in order to support policy- and decision-making in the EU. This will involve providing the Community, its Member States and, as a longer term objective, the wider public with objective, reliable and comparable information on the migration and asylum situation.

In order to address the need to exchange information on all aspects of migration and to contribute to a common asylum and immigration policy, the European Commission was invited to consider the "development of a European system for exchanging information on asylum, migration and countries of origin" by the Laeken European Council in 2001. The result was the European Migration Network, which was launched in 2003 as a Pilot Project, and since 2004 as a Preparatory Action until the end of 2006. The Thessaloniki European Council (2003) welcomed the "establishment of a European Migration Network and will examine the possibility of setting up a permanent structure in the future". The current Hague Programme has reinforced the need for common analysis of migratory phenomena (the collection, provision, exchange and efficient use of up-to-date information), and the EMN is one means towards this goal.

Currently, the European Commission (under the direct responsibility of the Directorate General for Justice, Freedom and Security) is responsible for the development of the EMN, in co-operation with an EMN Co-ordinator (Berlin Institute for Comparative Social Research), supported by European Dynamics with respect to the further development of the EMN Information Exchange System, until the end of 2006) and other EMN Members from most EU Member States who have been designated by their Member State government and who act either as formal EMN National Contact Points (NCPs) or as Observers, with a view to possibly joining at a later stage. Currently there are 17 formal EMN NCPs (from AT, BE, CZ, DE, EE, FN, FR, GR, IE, IT, LV, NL, PT, SE, SI, SK, UK) plus five Observers (from CY, DK, HU, LT, PL), consisting of Ministries of Interior and of Justice; National Statistical Offices; Research Institutes; Non-Governmental Organisations; and a national office of an International Organisation. In turn, each Member State representative is asked to develop a national network, involving all relevant stakeholders to develop a comprehensive view of the situation within their Member State on a particular migration or asylum topic.