The European Union (EU) is planning to learn some of the lessons from India on the control and management of migration even as it grapples with severe migration and refugee crisis. “We are trying to tap into some of the migration problems India had faced in the past and also facing now and planning to learn from it. And we are trying to do this under the Common Agenda on Migration and Mobility (CAMM),” said Herbert Krauss, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Head of the Department for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (EU). The EU had been facing unprecedented refugee and migration crisis of late following the war in Syria and struggling to resettle the immigrants that are coming in hundreds and thousands across the Mediterranean Sea in search of a better livelihood. “India had been facing migration problems from the neighboring countries like Bangladesh and Afghanistan. It has also a large immigrant population. So I think we can learn from you,” Krauss added. The 28-nation bloc EU had been eyeing a deal with India on migration and mobility for several years now. The CAMM was launched in 2006 under the framework of the EU Global Approach to Migration and Mobility (GAMM). GAMM is implemented through comprehensive framework Common Agendas for Migration and Mobility (CAMM). On the other hand, the CAMM also aims at organizing labour mobility between India and EU thereby recognizing existing migration-related bilateral arrangements and agreements between India and EU member states. “The agreement basically aims to promote labour migration, facilitating employment opportunities in the country. There is also a possibility of re-admission agreement with India,” said Tove Ernst, Spokesperson for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Directorate-General Communication, European Commission. The last round of talks was held in Delhi in July 2012, following which a draft copy of the CAMM was sent to India on April 2013, to which India replied in 2015. During the India-EU Summit, which took place in March 30 in Brussels, both sides had signed a joint declaration on a migration and mobility that is aimed at creating a “regular, comprehensive and strategic” dialogue on migration issues, according to a press release. However, the EU is planning to widen its scope with India now that it is struggling to tackle the crisis.
2016, The Hindu Business Line.