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Resolution 2137 (2016)
The impact of European population dynamics on migration policies
1. The significant changes in the
dynamics of the European population in the 21st century call for
an assessment of their impact on future migration policies in Europe.
2. The 47 member States of the Council of Europe have a total
of 826 million inhabitants, which represents 11.3% of the world
population. The average population density in Europe is 35 inhabitants
per square kilometre, which is lower than the world average (55
inhabitants per squarekilometre). There
is therefore potential for population growth.
3. Furthermore, in contrast to other world regions, the Council
of Europe countries are particularly concerned by a “demographic
winter”: the average birth rate has dropped to 1.5 children born
per woman, the lowest in the world. The demographic winter varies
in intensity from one country to another, engendering diverging
population trends.
4. At the same time, Council of Europe countries have the oldest
population in the world, with the highest percentage of people aged
65 and over, and this situation will accelerate in the future as
a result of increasing life expectancy. The resulting reduction
in the proportion of the European population of working age creates
a need to consider more actively how to attract young skilled migrants
to the European labour market.
5. The Parliamentary Assembly believes that to make better use
of the current substantial influx of migrants in Europe, countries
of immigration need to develop long-term political strategies based
on the needs of the labour market, responding to integration challenges
and encouraging their rapid entry into the labour market.
6. The Assembly is also concerned about the negative impact of
labour migration from some eastern European countries and its effect
on their population dynamics and on the social situation of migrant
families. These countries should counterbalance the negative effects
of emigration on development by combating the main push factors
for people leaving the country, such as corruption, bad governance
and a lack of fair justice systems. Special support should be provided
to vulnerable families, including children who have been left behind
by their parents.
7. The Assembly is convinced that in order to respond to the
present population challenges in Europe, a cross-sectoral approach
to social, labour market and immigration policies should be applied,
and that the human rights and dignity of all people should be put
at the forefront of all related policies.
8. The Assembly therefore invites the Council of Europe member
States concerned to:
8.1. devise
policies to address the European demographic winter by:
8.1.1. promoting
social policies which encourage couples to have as many children
as they wish;
8.1.2. devising policies to strike a better balance between family
and working life, including promoting greater participation by men
and women in the labour market by providing the necessary training
programmes, flexible working hours, parental leave systems and family planning
assistance, as well as material incentives;
8.1.3. introducing national childcare strategies to encourage
young people to combine work and family life, including childcare
at inconvenient hours;
8.2. devise special policies to curb the negative effects of
population ageing by:
8.2.1. introducing labour market reforms
in order to encourage the employment of senior citizens, when necessary;
8.2.2. implementing salary and pension system reforms in order
to make the employment of senior citizens more attractive, when
necessary;
8.2.3. devising employment policies which appeal to young people
and by preventing the rural exodus of young people;
8.2.4. supporting lifelong learning initiatives aimed at increasing
the proportion of skilled workers;
8.2.5. fostering health-care policies to increase healthy life
expectancy;
8.3. devise, as required, forward-looking migration policies,
including safe transport of persons, to attract qualified migrants,
in particular by:
8.3.1. conducting sectoral analyses of
the labour market to identify where there is a real shortage of
skilled labour;
8.3.2. ensuring that all obstacles are eliminated from national
legislation for the rapid entry of refugees into the labour market;
8.3.3. creating access to employment for regular migrants, responding
both to the needs of host societies and eliminating the black labour
market with its associated trafficking and exploitation of migrants;
8.3.4. taking appropriate measures to ensure that migrant workers
have pay and conditions equivalent to those of national workers;
8.3.5. promoting vocational training for refugees to encourage
their integration into the labour market;
8.3.6. facilitating the recognition of the educational diplomas
and vocational skills of migrants;
8.3.7. further developing vocational training and language courses
for migrants, especially for migrant women;
8.3.8. promoting the successful integration of migrants and their
families by revising integration policies to ensure that migrants
are not segregated in the host society and that they are involved
in the social and cultural life of local communities;
8.3.9. enhancing public information on the economic benefits
of legal migration and cultural diversity for society.
9. The Assembly encourages the development of policy co-ordination
between the Council of Europe member States in relation to demographic
trends and their influence on economic development. It also encourages
the relevant international organisations (the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD), the International Organization
for Migration (IOM) and the European Union, for instance) to collect
data on population dynamics in European countries and carry out
comparative studies on population and migration-related issues.
10. Finally, the Assembly decides to come back to this issue on
a regular basis.