Aljazeera: EU reform, migration and the economy

John Springford, the deputy director of the Centre for European Reform, says "bringing in more people definitely helps" EU countries economically. "What's really important is that those people are quickly integrated into the labour market, into society, so that they find jobs quickly and they start being productive helpful members of society."

Asked about tariffs imposed by the Trump administration and their effect on the EU, Springford says, "If the trade war escalates, and the US imposes tariffs on cars ... the EU is quite vulnerable to that. It's difficult to say how the EU should respond. On the one hand, if they say, 'Trump just imposed tariffs on us and we are not going to respond,' it may well embolden Trump to go further and particularly the trade balance between US and EU does not improve. 

"But on the other hand, if they do escalate the trade war, then it might become a kind of fight to the death and we might see some severe restrictions on transatlantic trade which won't help anyone ... I think the EU has no easy options."