Event

Europe’s Migration Crisis and its Possible Short-term Solutions – a V4 Perspective

Partner: Antall József Knowledge Centre
Event date: Sep 22, 2015
Deadline for registering: Sep 20, 2015
Venue: Stanhope Hotel, Rue du Commerce 9, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium, Hungary
Category: Conference

Europe’s Migration Crisis and its Possible Short-term Solutions - a V4 Perspective

Due to the increasing number of international conflicts, migration has risen exponentially in recent years, especially towards Europe. With an unprecedented number of migrants trying to enter the European Union in 2015, the control of the Schengen borders has become a drastically increasing burden.

With the current migrant crisis unfolding on the EU’s doorstep and insufficient support for the Commission’s proposal of equal burden-sharing among member states, short-term solutions are necessary before the right EU long-term comprehensive strategy is agreed upon.

Apart from social issues, such as unemployment or social integration, mass migration raises some major security questions as well. The free borders of the Schengen area are a luring opportunity for terrorists to pursue their objectives. Therefore, the responsibility of border and transit countries – such as the Visegrád Four – has increased even more. It has become clear that joint action is indispensable not only at European but also at regional level.

Considering the significance of the current migration crisis, Talentbase Ltd., the Antall Centre and the Wilfried Martens Centre (CES) decided to organise an international conference focusing on the possible short-term responses from a V4 perspective.

The key questions to be discussed are as follows:

What are the possible short-term responses of the EU to the crisis?
How should the different aspects of the crisis – the possible threat of terrorism, integration of the migrants and the response of the host societies – be evaluated?
What is the optimal balance of competences shared between member states and common EU action?
Are there any common measures the Visegrád countries can take together at regional level?
What are the main challenges posed by the migration crisis on CFSP, and what are the possible solutions there?

Programme:

13:30 Registration

14:00 Opening Remarks: Katalin Bihari, Deputy Director of the Antall József Knowledge Centre

14:10 Keynote Speech: Christos Stylianides, Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, European Commission

14:40 Panel Discussion

Balázs Orbán – Research Director, Századvég Foundation
Milan Nič – Managing Director of the Central European Policy Institute (CEPI)
Tomaš Kaválek – Research Fellow, Association for International Affairs (AMO)
(TBC, John Fredrikson, Regional Representative for Western Europe, UNHCR)
(TBC, Fabrice Leggeri, Executive Director, FRONTEX)
Moderator: Vít Novotny – Senior Research Officer, Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies