Event report

Thematic panel 3: Demographic ISSUES EU — With the development of new technologies and the digitalisation of society, and in the context of the pandemic and strong geopolitical tensions, demographic and migration issues are becoming the subject of scientific-research interest, primarily due to the security challenges they bring. Scenarios and projections of growth or decline in the global population, the associated impact on society, future geopolitical relations, and international security certainly contribute to the fact that governments around the world, thus also the European Union, are preparing for the challenges of managing in the context of demographic risks, which have a direct impact on socio-economic and political systems already very vulnerable. Doc.dr.sc. took part in the hearing. Jadranka Polović, President of HUMS, Nevena Stanković, PhD, Faculty of Security, University of Belgrade, Ambassador Božo Kovačević, Matija Štahan, journalist and publicist, and PhD, PhD. Boško Picula, Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb. She was moderated by dr.sc. Jadranka Dujić Frlan, Vice-President of HUMS. Conclusions: the future: • Demographics are a problem and opportunity for the EU. On the one hand, security and identity challenges are, on the other hand, the need for the EU to import labour if it wants to remain an economically relevant global player. It is clear that the EU cannot provide biological and economic reproduction without immigrants. It is therefore necessary to devise an immigration policy that will allow migrants to reach the EU in an organised manner ready to embrace European values. The opening of legal channels for immigration will reduce pressure on illegal migration. • Security issues that include the issues of migration as well as the retrieval of the workforce needed by economic development, the sustainability of the fundamental systems on which every society, the national states, but also the EU (pension, educational, health, scientific, legal...) are based, and in the context of comprehensive digitalisation are the first-rate challenges facing the European Union. • The phenomenon of growing global population (or potential decline) is not just academic interest — these data are crucial for analytical assessments and reflections on the future of human society, but also on international relations, especially potential geopolitical tensions, wars and conflicts. Current estimates are built on the assumption of continued population growth and point to resource scarcity as well as scarcity in climate change and environmental pollution, factors influenced by nature of intra-state tensions and international relations. Indeed, governments around the world are preparing for the challenge of managing an enlarged population, so they often ignore the fact that the population is shrinking, in particular omitting a significant aspect of population ageing, a process that has a direct impact on the socio-economic and political system.