Migration and Development: Old and New Ambivalences of the European Approach

This paper examines the evolution of the conceptual framework of the migration and development nexus within the European context, and outlines some of its possible future prospects, based on a reflection on the constraints and opportunities currently challenging policies and practices in this field. On the one hand it analyzes how the link between migration and development was initially conceived and is still being shaped within a migration model featured by an economistic approach and by the constant concern for the containment of migratory pres-sure. At the same time, it reflects on several possible innovative prospects, in the light of transnationalism and its implications for the relationship between migration and development, some considerations suggested by the local development model, the evolution of the EU soft policy framework, and the lessons learned by some interesting projects in this field.