EuropeChats – Does Europe Need More Migrants?

In this special episode of EuropeChats, we are taking a look at the serious issue of migration, with TEPSA Secretary-General Jim Cloos interviewing Giles Merritt on the subject of his book "People Power: Why We Need More Migrants". 

The flaws of the Dublin system having been laid bare by the Refugee Crisis of the mid-2010s, migration has shot to the forefront of EU debate. In Hungary, government rhetoric during the crisis shifted dramatically towards fearmongering immigration, and a crisis was caused with Croatia and the EU when Hungary closed its southern border. But it isn't only in Hungary that migration has caused controversy: in the United Kingdom, migration took center-stage in the Brexit debate, and in Bulgaria, since 2014 a fence has been erected along the Turkish border to reduce immigration. The story is much the same across the rest of Europe: migration has become the chief political hot-potato in the EU. 

While some see the influx of economic migrants and refugees as a threat, others advocate in favour of migration in the interests of the European Union both economically and socially. One of those people is Giles Merritt, a journalist, author and broadcaster who has for over four decades specialised in European public policy questions. In 2010 he was named by the Financial Times as one of its 30 most influential “Eurostars”, together with the European Commission’s President and NATO’s Secretary General. Merritt is the Founder of Friends of Europe, and was its Secretary General between 1999 and 2015, and its Chairman between 2016 and 2020. 

We’re discussing these topics and many more! Check it out! 

EuropeChats is with Jim Cloos & Mariam Khotenashvili is the flagship podcast of TEPSA and it is part of the TEPSA Podcast Channel “Europe Speaks”  

Music: Worakls, 22 September 2014, Salzburg, Hungry music