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A common agenda for the integration of non-EU nationals |
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Migrants actively contribute to the economic, social and cultural development of European societies. Their successful integration into society in the host country is the key to maximising the opportunities of legal migration and making the most of the contributions that immigration can make to EU development. Although the EU is not responsible for integration, it is supporting national and local policies with policy coordination, exchange of knowledge and financial support. Common basic principles for immigrant integration policy in the EU EU cooperation on the integration of non-EU nationals has developed since the Tampere Programme was adopted back in 1999. The Common Basic Principles for immigrant integration policy, agreed in 2004, provide a strong framework for policy-making in this area. They underline the importance of a holistic approach to integration and aim, inter alia, at assisting EU States in formulating integration policies. They also serve as a basis for EU States to explore how EU, national, regional, and local authorities can interact in the development and implementation of integration policies. Finally, they assist in evaluating EU-level mechanisms and policies with a view to supporting future integration policy developments. The Commission’s 2005 Common Agenda for Integration has helped to implement the Common Basic Principles. EU policy here has been further framed by the 2009 Stockholm Programme and the Europe 2020 Strategy, where one of the headline targets is to raise the employment rate of 20 to 64-year olds in the EU to 75 %. One of the means by which to do this is by better integrating legal migrants. The policy debate on integration  Political debates on integration are held regularly as part of the Ministerial Conferences on Integration (Groningen 2004, Potsdam 2007, Vichy 2008, Zaragoza 2010). The Commission contributed to the 2010 ministerial conference with a report aiming at consolidating the EU framework on integration. It highlights the progress made and steps needed to improve integration strategies, namely the promotion of common EU values, gathering information on the general public's perception of migrants and legal immigration, the development of European modules on integration and the identification of relevant reference indicators to evaluate results. A European agenda for the integration of non-EU nationals In July 2011, the Commission proposed a European agenda for the integration of non-EU migrants, focusing on action to increase economic, social, cultural and political participation by migrants and putting the emphasis on local action. This new agenda highlights challenges that need to be solved if the EU is to benefit fully from the potential offered by migration and the value of diversity. It also explores the role of countries of origin in the integration process. A Commission Staff Working Paper (SEC(2011)957) is annexed to the Communication and contains a list of EU initiatives supporting the integration of Third Country Nationals. As part of this agenda, the Commission is putting together a flexible ‘tool-box’, from which national authorities will be able to pick the measures most likely to prove effective in their specific context, and for their particular integration objectives. There are plans to develop modules offering an established, but at the same time flexible, point of reference to support integration policies in EU States. Common indicators have also been identified for monitoring the results of integration policies. EU instruments to support integration
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