Brussels Builds Continued Immigration Into Europe’s Future

The European Union now openly assumes that immigration will help keep its population and workforce from falling too quickly. Rather than trying to reverse the trend, Brussels is largely preparing to manage it—with continued immigration playing a central role.

Eurostat builds continued immigration into its population projections. Its central scenario assumes that more people will enter the EU than leave it every year until 2100. The model also assumes that a shrinking workforce will draw in more people from outside the EU. The EU presents legal migration as one answer to labour shortages, promotes recruitment deals with third countries, and highlights a planned online platform to connect companies with foreign workers. Low birth rates, by contrast, are treated as a problem that government policy can do little to change, leaving Europe to adapt to the consequences.

In other words, restoring Europe’s birth rate is not the main priority. Europe could do more to make it easier for young people to marry, find homes, and raise children. Instead, Brussels places much of its hope in immigration, getting more people into work and raising productivity. A major change in Europe’s population is presented as a technical problem, even though immigration levels are ultimately a political choice.