The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

The Migration Profiles in South-Eastern Europe were created partly in reaction to the EU Council Conclusions of June 2007 on Extending and Enhancing the Global Approach to Migration, based on the Commission Communications of May 2007 on applying the Global Approach to migration to the Eastern and South-Eastern regions neighbouring the European Union and on circular migration and mobility partnerships, which particularly calls for drawing up country-specific migration profiles.

Migration profiles respond to the belief that managing migration in such a way that it facilitates legal mobility and further becomes a driver of development strategies, one needs information. Information is necessary regarding the size of inward and outward migration flows, the origin and destination of migrants, the characteristics of migrants, in terms of age, gender and skills, as well as information on diasporas and remittances. This type of basic information was intended for Western Balkans countries and Turkey to build their policies upon, and for the EC and EU MS partners to have a starting point for developing cooperation and labour migration policies and programmes benefiting the target countries.

This type of basic information is required for Western Balkan countries and Turkey as a basis for building policies, and for the EC and EU MS partners to have a starting point for developing cooperation and labour migration policies and programmes benefiting third countries in South-Eastern Europe. The profiles were commissioned by the Slovenian government in preparation for their presidency of the EU in the first half of 2008.