Media Briefing, Presentation of the “Refugees In Europe” Report

The European Foundation for Democracy hosted a media briefing on Wednesday 16th May to present the findings of our recently completed research project which examined how different European countries with high numbers of refugees and/or experience of integrating high numbers of refugees (namely Sweden, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands and France) are managing the integration process. The research also identifies good practices for integrating refugees in these countries that might be recommended and replicated in other member states, as well as less good practices to amend.

The research, which included interviews with government officials, academics, NGOs and practitioners, including front-line professionals who work directly with refugees, employer federations and other representative organisations, as well as refugees and asylum seekers themselves, looked in particular at the situation of Syrian refugees in Europe, though not exclusively. More than half of the respondents for this research were refugees or asylum seekers.

The report makes a number of recommendations to the governments of those countries surveyed as well as EU governments as a whole.

Speakers of the event were; John Duhig Senior Policy Advisor, European Foundation for Democracy; Tommaso Virgili, Programme Manager, European Foundation for Democracy; Yousef Wehbe Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression, Germany; Mohamad Khadam Union of Syrians Abroad, Austria; Marwa Farid, Policy Advisor, European Foundation for Democracy.