The term 'circular migration' has become a buzzword among European and international policy and academic circles in recent years. Many national and EU policy makers have heralded the idea of 'circular' migration with great enthusiasm as the solution to many of 'our' migration 'problems', supposedly addressing at once labour market shortages (by providing quickly and flexibly labour force on demand) and the migrant integration challenges (since circular migrants arenot there to stay and hence will create very limited if any integration challenges).This book studies the realities of circular migration on the ground by empirical analysis of seven pairs of countries: Greece-Albania, Italy-Albania; Italy-Morocco, Spain-Morocco; and Poland-Ukraine, Hungary-Ukraine, Italy-Ukraine. The book provides for a comparative and in depth analysis of circular migration between EU member states and countries in the EU's neighbourhood. It discusses critically the idea that circular migration is a triple-win situation (for migrants, states of origin, anddestination countries) and looks at how relevant policies, migration statuses, labour markets, and other factors influence migrants' circulation. It poses and responds to the question whether circularity is a choice that brings higher economic and social or cultural gains than classical migration, ora necessity, a creative but not desirable strategy that migrants adopt in the absence of other options.

1 Anna Triandafyllidou: Circular Migration: Introductory Remarks; 2 Jean-Pierre Cassarino: The Drive for Securitised Temporariness; 3 Nicola Mai and Cristiana Paladini: Flexible circularities: Integration, return and socio-economic instability within Albanian migration to Italy; 4 Thanos Maroukis and Eda Gemi: Albanian Circular Migration in Greece: Beyond the State?; 5 Camilla Devitt: Circular Economic Migration between Italy and Morocco; 6 Carmen Gonzalez Enriquez: Circularity in a Restrictive Framework: Mobility between Morocco and Spain; 7 Ayş Cağar: Circular Migration between Hungary and Ukraine: Historical legacies, the economic crisis and the multi-directionality of 'circular' migration; 8 Krystyna Iglicka and Katarzyna Gmaj: Circular Migration Patterns between Ukraine and Poland; 9 Francesca Alice Vianello: A Transnational Double Presence: Circular Migration between Ukraine and Italy; 10 Anna Triandafyllidou: Circular Migration at the Periphery of Europe: Choice, Opportunity or Necessity?