Marking World Refugee Day and ten years since the so-called 2015 refugee crisis, ICMPD Director General Michael Spindelegger reflected on Europe’s migration journey — a decade marked by real progress towards refugee integration, yet strained by the continued inflow and growing political tensions.
Since 2014, Europe has approved a total of 4.1 million asylum applications – a testament to Europe’s commitment to its international protection obligations. But while the current state of European migration policy is significantly more advanced now, the scale and complexity of migration challenges have grown. Thus, the EU needs more work to balance border management, along with combatting cross-border crimes, humanitarian obligations, and economic impactwarned Mr Spindelegger
In an in-depth interview, Mr Spindelegger outlined the multiple “peaks” of migratory movements and entry of refugees in Europe, long before the “crisis” began. Specifically in the EU, asylum applications have more than tripled since the 2000s: from 261,000 in 2010, peaking at 1.283mn in 2015, to 998,000 in 2024.
He said that since 2015 the current state of European migration policy has advanced significantly more than is often perceived through media coverage or public discourse: In 2015 the EU had almost no external migration partnerships; today it has a wide network of bilateral agreements and tested mechanisms for cooperation with key countries of origin and transit.
But he also acknowledged the mounting challenges for the region, including recent debates on mechanisms for the return of migrants and refugees, and ‘externalisation’.
The continent now finds itself in an ‘age of migration crisis,’ where bold policies, honest communication, and global cooperation are more essential than everMr Spindelegger said
Such needed policies, he outlined, include balanced migration control alongside legal pathways, fast and sound asylum procedures to avoid lapses and abuse of the system, and stronger efforts to curb human trafficking as an element of addressing irregular migration.
Mr Spindelegger closed the interview with three key questions to guide how the EU can take the discussion forward: How a functioning, fair, and global refugee regime should look; how the international community can help reduce the number of violent conflicts that are still the main driver of displacement and irregular migration; and how a global economic order can provide opportunities for as many people as possible, and limit the need to migrate in disorderly and irregular ways.
Only when these three questions are answered concretely and forward-looking, can Europe have a final breakthrough on migration issues. The EU has the tools, partnerships, and knowledge it lacked in 2015. What the EU now needs is the political courage, public support, and international vision to turn all the progress into a sustainable system of migration governanceMr Spindelegger concluded