EU-Ropeans Outside EU-Rope – Labour Emigrants As an Asset to the EU…?

With a thin net migration rate of 1.7%Europe is a continent of both immigration and emigration. EU migration governance has so far neglected emigration, focusing solely on immigration management. The accession of predominantly emigration countries in 2004 and 2007 exacerbated the EU emigration dilemma, but did not change the overall EU policy course. However, the EU-15 have not been emigration-free: UK, Germany and France are among the top 10 source countries in the US, Australia and Canada.

The aim of the paper is to look at the European migration governance from the angle of mobility and emigration management. That is to focus on European approach to emigration from the EU, circular migration of EU nationals, and non-EU based diaspora. The particular case study chosen for analysis are British, French, Portuguese and Polish nationals, who came to Canada between 2004 and 2008. The main questions that are tackled concern 1) the size and characteristics of the EU nationals migrating to Canada on temporary or permanent basis, and 2) the perceived and real impact of the emigration/diaspora policies have on EU emigrants in Canada. The paper provides a typology of the EU migrant and link the different types to the impact of EU and national emigration and diaspora policies (or lack of them). The core question is: what makes an EU emigrant a worthwhile policy object?