FRIEDRICH-EBERT-STIFTUNG 4 Executive Summary Céline Teney, University of Bremen In 2012, 1.7 million European citizens migrated to another European country. Analysis of the EU immigrant stock of 11 EU countries shows that the population of immigrants originating from the EU15 countries tends, on average, to be much more highly educated than the national population and the non‐EU immigrant population. By contrast, the propor­tion of highly educated persons among Central and Eastern European immigrants is lower and shows larger variation between the destination countries. Most highly qualified im­migrants from both EU15 countries and new member states moved to the United Kingdom, Sweden and Ireland. The complexity and heterogeneity of the migration and inte­gration patterns of highly qualified intra‐EU immigrants make it difficult to single out brain drain and gain processes within the EU. For instance, highly qualified intra‐EU immigrants might hold positions in the destination country for which they are over-qualified. Such a situation is faced, for instance, by many highly qualified Poles residing in the United Kingdom and is referred as»brain waste«. Conflicting national interests seem to explain the divergence in the reactions and positions on intra‐EU brain drain of key actors from net sending and receiving countries. Conse­quently, the EU constitutes the appropriate political entity to address such issues insofar as they result from European integration and have clear European scope: actors operating at EU level in the interests of all European citizens play a significant role in problematising the downsides of European integration and proposing EU‐wide solutions to mitigate them.