EMN (European Migration Network)

The European Migration Network (EMN) is an EU body established by Council Decision 2008/381/EC to collect, analyse, and share information on migration and asylum among EU Member States and the European Commission. It grew out of a pilot project launched in 2003 and became permanent in 2008. Norway joined as an observer, and the network now covers all EU Member States except Denmark, plus Norway, Georgia, Moldova, Armenia and several other associated countries.

The EMN operates through National Contact Points (NCPs) in each participating state, typically housed in interior ministries, immigration authorities, or affiliated research institutes. These NCPs are coordinated by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs (DG HOME), with operational support historically provided by ICF and other contractors.

Core outputs include:

• Annual Reports on Migration and Asylum, summarising legal, policy and statistical developments
• Studies and Informs on specific topics such as labour migration, unaccompanied minors, return policy, or visa practices
• Ad-Hoc Queries, a rapid-response mechanism where one Member State can poll others on a narrow policy question, often answered within weeks
• The EMN Glossary, a multilingual reference for migration and asylum terminology widely used by researchers and practitioners
• The EMN Bulletin, a quarterly digest of EU and national developments

The network is funded primarily through the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF). Its work feeds directly into Commission proposals, including those under the Pact on Migration and Asylum adopted in 2024, and supports the European Council and the European Parliament with evidence-based briefings.

For researchers, EMN materials are particularly valuable because they offer comparable cross-country data — each NCP follows a common template — making them more usable than ad hoc national reports. They are publicly available via the EMN website hosted by DG HOME.