I hope and expect that our empathy for those from afar will increase in the next 20 years, and the international mobility of vulnerable people will not be as difficult and exhausting as it is today.

On the one hand, I would like 2040 to be a year in which those who are forced to flee their homes due to human or climatic catastrophes do not face unnecessary obstacles in their flight, resulting from prejudice and discrimination. I close my eyes and I see reception centres which respect and promote human rights, politicians that do not trade with border control measures, administrations that protect vulnerable people, laws that do not curtail human rights under any pretext or justification, and judicial systems that do not deviate from such red lines.

In addition, I also hope that those who cannot develop their full potential in their home country will be able to access the facilities we have in Europe, either to bring that talent back home or to stay in the EU. At present, the legal pathways to access the EU territory are mainly focused on people with higher education, entrepreneurs or people with some purchasing power. However, I believe that the ideal is to open up more circular migration channels through which those who do not have much can have a better future. This is not only "in our interest" because it would reduce irregular immigration, but I believe it should be an obligation, as a significant world power.

In my vision of an ideal 2040, mobility should be open to all - not a headache for those who need to flee or a utopia for those who cannot afford it.