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Can migration still be treated as a problem to be managed at the border, or has it instead become a reflection of deeper structural shifts linking demographic change, climate pressures, labour market dynamics, and geopolitical realignments between Europe and Africa? For too long, policy debates have been trapped in a crisis-management mindset, where urgency and political sensitivity tend to override long-term thinking. The realities shaping mobility today suggest a far more complex and interdependent system, in which migration is both a consequence and a driver of broader transformations.
Across the Euro-African space, fragmented responses continue to dominate despite growing interconnections. Climate stress, uneven development trajectories, and shifting labour demands are reshaping mobility patterns in ways that no single country can manage alone. Still, cooperation is often reactive, focused on containment and short-term stabilization rather than on building shared frameworks that anticipate and structure mobility. This gap between structural realities and policy design is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.
Recent reforms in European asylum governance illustrate this tension. Efforts to accelerate processing and expand concepts such as “safe third country” signal a move toward externalization and procedural filtering. While these changes are often justified in terms of efficiency and control, they also raise deeper questions about responsibility-sharing and the future of partnerships with neighbouring regions, particularly in North Africa. The central issue is whether such reforms can evolve into genuine cooperation or whether they risk reinforcing asymmetries in migration governance.
At the same time, contrasting approaches within Europe itself reveal that migration is also increasingly understood through the lens of economic necessity. Spain’s recent extraordinary regularization measures highlight how demographic ageing and labour shortages are reshaping policy choices, even in politically polarized contexts. Rather than being solely a security concern, migration is also becoming an instrument of economic adjustment, though often without a stable, long-term governance framework to support it.
Seen from Africa, migration dynamics are equally evolving, with growing diversification of destinations, increasing skilled mobility, and stronger diaspora engagement reshaping traditional patterns. Mobility is no longer linear but multi-directional and embedded in broader development strategies. This changing reality, along with emerging AU–EU and cross-regional dialogues, points toward a more ambitious question: what would it take to move from fragmented crisis responses to a genuinely strategic partnership in governing mobility across continents?
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The Migration Dilemma: Europe and Africa’s New Compact
Ferid Belhaj
The issue of migration between Europe and Africa is not just a humanitarian or social dilemma, but a strategic challenge that will shape the twenty-first century. At its core, it reflects the collision of powerful forces migration, climate change, human development, energy resources, rare commodities, and demographic pressures each with significant geopolitical implications. Among these, migration, climate change, and human development stand out as critical issues that exacerbate and influence one another. Despite the interconnectedness of these issues, the policy responses from Europe and Africa remain fragmented, uncoordinated, and driven by narrow, short-term interests... Read more
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Reconfiguring Asylum Governance in Europe
Amal El Ouassif
On February 10, 2026, the European Parliament endorsed an asylum reform that expands the use of the ‘safe third country’ concept and introduces a common European Union list of ‘safe countries of origin’. This reform represents more than a technical adjustment of asylum procedures, as it signals a structural reorientation of EU asylum governance toward faster filtering of claims and greater reliance on external actors. How will this reform reshape the balance between migration management, international protection obligations, and the EU’s partnerships with African and neighboring countries in the years ahead?... Read more
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The Exceptional Regularization of 2026 In Spain: Foundations, Scope and Limits
Amal El Ouassif
On January 27, 2026, the Spanish government adopted a Royal Decree for the extraordinary regularization of persons in an irregular administrative situation or involved in an international protection procedure. The choice of a royal decree allows for the rapid implementation of the measure, without the need for parliamentary debate, in a political context that is highly polarized on migration issues. To what extent does this extraordinary regularization reflect a pragmatic response to labor and demographic needs, and how might it influence future migration governance debates in Spain and across Europe?... Read more
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Moroccan Migration Dynamics
Ahmed Tritah
This chapter of the Oxford Handbook of the Moroccan Economy examines Moroccan migration dynamics from the 1990s to the 2020s, using bilateral migration and labour market data to document evolving trends in destination patterns, skill composition, and diaspora engagement. It highlights the growing geographic diversification of emigration and the increasing presence of high-skilled and tertiary-educated migrants, especially in emerging destinations... Read more
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Rethinking Migration Policy: Spain's Bold Regularization Campaign
This podcast examines Spain’s latest immigration reform, which aims to regularize hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants. It discusses the economic rationale behind the policy, highlighting labor market needs and fiscal contributions. The conversation also situates Spain’s approach within broader European migration debates, contrasting it with more restrictive trends. Finally, it explores the political, social, and geopolitical implications of such a strategy... Listen
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Beyond Borders: Rethinking the AU-EU Partnership for Mobility, Growth & Global Influence
The podcast discusses the evolving Africa–Europe partnership following the 2025 AU–EU summit, highlighting the need to move beyond short-term migration management and extractive economic relations toward long-term, mutually beneficial cooperation. It emphasizes investment, skills development, and technology transfer as key levers to align Europe’s needs with Africa’s development ambitions. More broadly, it calls for rebalanced global governance and more inclusive decision-making to build trust and a sustainable strategic partnership... Listen
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U.S. Migration Policy: Current Trends and Impacts on Latin America and Africa
In this episode, we host Paula Disla, Vice Minister for International Relations at the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology of the Dominican Republic, to discuss how U.S. migration policy shapes global migration flows and regional stability. We examine the impact of border management, visa programs, and asylum regulations on labor markets, remittances, and social dynamics across Latin America and Africa, as well as their links to development, international cooperation, and security... Watch
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The Policy Center for the New South (PCNS) and the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations (COMEXI) are organizing a joint webinar on “Protecting Migrants’ Rights under Externalized Migration Control: A Comparative Dialogue between Morocco and Mexico”, on Thursday, June 4th, 2026, at 9:00 AM (Mexico City) / 4:00 PM (Rabat). The discussion will explore how external migration pressures, through EU policies affecting Morocco and US cooperation frameworks shaping Mexico, are transforming asylum systems, migrant protection, and transit governance in both regions. Despite different contexts, both countries face comparable challenges as key transit spaces navigating intensified externalization dynamics. This comparative dialogue will examine institutional responses, policy constraints, and opportunities for rights-based approaches. Register now to join the discussion and contribute to this cross-regional exchange on migrant protection and migration governance.
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