European Migration Network

- Objective

The European Migration Network (EMN) aims to provide up-to-date, objective, reliable and comparable information on migration and asylum for the European Union and the Member States and to collect, document and further analyze on national and European level the already existing and freshly provided information from Member States.

EMN supports the decision-makers in strategy- and policymaking and also provides information to the general public through Reports, Studies, Ad-Hoc Queries, Policy Briefs and Quarterly Reports

More information on the EMN products is available under “Publications” and at the central webpage of EMN.

EMN also serves as forum on national and European level for consultation regarding migration policies. The national contact points regularly meet and cooperate with each other, as well as other EU institutions and agencies (European Parliament, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, EASO, Frontex).

The European Migration Network is funded by the European Commission through the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, and also co-financed by Member States.

- Legal background

Building on previous experimental forms of cooperation, the European Migration Network was created by Council Decision 2008/381/EC The Council Decision determines the tasks of EMN, and also sets out the designation of EMN national contact points by the Member States.

- Structure

The members of EMN are the European Commission and the national contact points of the Member States and Norway. The EMN is coordinated by the Directorate General for Home Affair of the European Commission.Ukraine, Montenegro, Serbia, Armenia, Georgia and Moldova participate in the work of EMN as observers.

The political guidelines and programme of the EMN is determined by its Steering Board. The Steering Board is chaired by the European Commission and consists of one representative from each Member State plus observers from the European Parliament and from Norway

EU Member States – with the exception of Denmark – maintain their own national contact points. As an external EMN Member, Norway also has a national contact point.

The  EMN national contact points are designated by Member State governments, thus, their tasks can be carried out by different kind of institutions in each Member State. In most of the cases, the contact points are governmental bodies (Interior and Justice Ministries, special agencies dealing with migration, international protection and citizenship), but in some countries, research institutions or the local offices of the International Organization for Migration are chosen.