Intensified European integration, enlargement of the EU, and increasing migration activity worldwide have pushed migration and migration policy to the forefront of the European agenda. This paper identifies the salient questions to be addressed by any educated migration policy. It embeds this discussion into a systematic classification of economic migration research according to its major conceptual and applied questions. The state of theoretical and empirical research in the different strands of the taxonomy is reviewed briefly, with a focus on European aspects. Furthermore, we offer some empirical evidence on the determinants of intra-EU-migration by an analysis of the Eurobarometer. The paper concludes with an outline of the major open research questions in the European context. Specifically, at this juncture the generation of individual-based detailed and comprehensive data material covering the phenomenon is imperative.