The impact of narratives on policymaking at the EU level
Work Package 8
Months 21-36:
November 2022 – February 2024
Work Package 8 analyses, together with WP7, how different narratives on migration shape, and are deployed in, the political debate and policymaking. Focusing on the EU level, this WP aims to:
- Investigate how narratives on migration and integration have evolved in the political debate at the EU level over the past 10 years.
- Inquire how particularly emotions-based narratives aiming at garnering public support have been processed in different policymaking venues.
- Explore the implications for policy responses and how rhetoric has been de-coupled, rejected from or embraced with such responses.
- Foster the debate among policymakers on how to better articulate facts-based policy outputs, within the rule of law and in line with the EU core values.
WP8 runs in parallel to WP7 and focuses on analysing how EU actors have responded to competing narratives on migration in policy rhetoric and practice. To do so, it first maps the dominant narratives shaping the political debate on migration at the EU level, and then assesses the influence of these narratives on policy rhetoric and responses. As a result, a Working Paper and a Policy Brief on the impact of narratives on EU policymaking are produced, the latter aiming to reflect on the roles and responsibilities of EU policy stakeholders in generating such impact.
Under this WP, a workshop with EU policymakers is organised in Brussels, back-to-back with the BRIDGES Final Conference, to discuss the impact of migration narratives on EU policymaking and the overall results of the project.
Led by: IAI (Luca Barana and Andrea Dessì).
Partners: VUB-BIRMM, UEDIN, CIDOB, Sciences Po, CUAS Mainz, FIERI and TK.
Related publications
This Policy Brief looks at the implications of migration narratives for European policy-making. It drafts recommendations for members and officials of European institutions that may contribute to shaping narratives for fairer, comprehensive, and balanced European policy responses to migration and asylum.
This Working Paper investigates the main migration narratives circulating on media, political debates, and policy venues within the EU over the past decade. It focuses on the 2015 “refugee crisis” and the 2022 activation of the Temporary Protection Directive for those fleeing Russian aggression against Ukraine.
