Social
Inclusion, Integration and Citizenship
European Union Policy on Integration
Different histories, traditions and institutional arrangements regarding
immigration have meant a variety of approaches towards integration
of third country nationals (TCNs) in the European Union.
The Lisbon Agenda goal to promote economic and social cohesion
has resulted in increased focus on the integration of TCNs, increasingly
common approaches to integration are being articulated at EU level.
The European
Council has agreed that the aim of integration policy should be
to grant TCNs rights and obligations comparable to those of citizens
of the EU (European Council meeting, Tampere 1999). Emerging EU
policy on integration is chiefly concerned with developing common
approaches and promoting the exchange of best practices.
Key
developments:
- Directives
on racial discrimination and on discrimination in employment adopted
by the Commission (2000).
- Network of
national contact points (NCPs) established to facilitate the exchange
of information and best practice between member states (June 2003).
- Handbooks
on integration for policy makers and practitioners prepared by
the Migration Policy Group, in cooperation with the NCPs;
the first edition deals with the introduction programmes for newly
arrived immigrants and recognised refugees, civic participation
and the development of integration indicators (November 2004).
The second edition will address areas related to housing and urban
issues, access to services, labour market and economic integration,
mainstreaming, and integration infrastructure (publication due
end May 2007).
- Hague programme
stresses the need for greater coordination on national integration
policies and EU initiatives (4-5 November 2004).
- Justice and
Home Affairs (JHA) Council adopts the common basic principles
on integration (CBPs) (19 November 2004).
- The Commission
set out proposals for concrete measures to put the CBPs into practice,
together with a series of supportive EU mechanisms in its Communication
on a common agenda for integration. It also proposed new ways
of ensuring consistency between actions taken at EU and national
level and the establishment of a European Fund (1 September 2005).
For
more on European Union policy on integration of third-country nationals:
European Commission
web
pages on the common framework for the integration of third-country
nationals
Migration
Policy Group web pages including links to the
Handbook on Integration
Common
Basic Principles
on Integration (PDF)
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