LIBE

New Pact, Old Problem: The successful long-term inclusion of migrants benefits individuals as well as local communities. Bearing in mind that social inclusion remains a side note in the EU’s New Pact on Asylum and Migration, how can the EU support effective integration policies?

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

By Livia Draaisma (NL)

Introduction

Imagine having to move to another country and having to adapt to the culture, language and general way of life. In 2022, this was the case for almost 900 thousand non-European refugees who applied for asylum in the EU, having to start from scratch to gain international protection. Due to wars, conflict and persecution, people have been forced to seek refuge and safety all over the world, with one in every 122 humans being either a refugee, internally displaced or seeking asylum. The forced displacement of individuals has hit an all time high as a consequence of the war in Ukraine and other political conflicts. To ensure that migrants can build a solid future, it is crucial that migrants integrate easily, quickly and safely.. The longer that refugees wait for a decision on their status, the worse their subsequent employment chances are, with each year of waiting reducing the likelihood of employment by 4 to 5 procent. Keeping in mind the different types of integration, such as economic, linguistic, psychological, political and social integration, the EU has to focus on effective interventions and implement them as early on in the integration process as possible.

Key Terms & Concepts 

  • Integration: Integration describes the dynamic, two-way process of mutual accommodation by immigrants and residents of the EU Member States. 
  • Asylum seeker: An asylum seeker is someone who has left their country and is looking for a new (safer) place to live. At first, asylum seekers end up in an asylum camp. If their refugee status is approved by the government where they applied, the idea is that they get set up with government housing as soon as possible. 
  • Im(migrant):  This is a person who has moved from the country they or their parents were born in. The main reasons to emigrate are work or safety. Whereas a migrant is someone who is temporarily on the search for better living conditions or work, an immigrant has moved to a foreign country permanently. Unlike refugees, migrants and immigrants were not forced to leave their native countries due to persecution or violence. 
  • Third-country national: In the European context, third-country national is the legal definition for individuals who are not citizens of any Member State of the EU. As such, they do not enjoy the right to free movement in the EU. 

Key Actors & Stakeholders

European Commission

The European Commission is the executive branch of the EU and the only European institution that is allowed to initiate legislation. In line with the principle of subsidiarity, the EU can legislate in matters around migration but it is left to Member States to execute and finance the implementation. 

The Directorate-General Migration and Home Affairs (DG HOME)

The DG HOME is the branch within the European Commission that is responsible for policies regarding migration. DGs are the policy departments within the European Commission that are tasked with developing, researching, and monitoring policy as well as funding programmes. 

Member States

Because Migration and Home Affairs is a shared competence of the EU, the Member States have to make their own policy where the EU does not. Europe only shapes  the big picture of the integration policy. The Member States have the important role of making policy specific for their local needs. 

The International Organization for Migration (IOM)

IOM is an organisation that is part of the UN. They have been helping with the relocation of displaced people since the Second World War. They mainly do crisis response, meaning that they are one of the first ones to come in contact with refugees. 

Key Conflicts 

When refugees apply for asylum, they start a complicated legal process. With this application comes a long waiting time. In the time between the application and the decision on their status, there is a lot of uncertainty in the lives of these refugees. The longer the uncertainty lasts, the longer it takes before they can start the integration process. The biggest problem with the long waiting time is that the integration will be less successful. There is a certain integration window. One study showed that with every year a refugee has to wait for status approval, their chances of subsequent employment were reduced by 4 or 5 percentage points. Another study showed that lengthy employment bans for asylum seekers made job prospects go down gradually.  In this case, a ban of 7 extra months reduced employment rates by 20 percent. 

Furthermore, the asylum application process has been designed on the basis that the majority of applicants will be rejected. Though this was the case in the ‘70s and ‘80s, nowadays a lot  of the asylum seekers do get approved for refugee status. Around 89% of the applications were approved by The Netherlands in 2022.  Because the outdated system is still in place, refugees do not start the integration process while waiting on a decision for their status. Applicants are kept apart from society during this time, while they should be getting to know their new environment. For example, working bans and language barriers, and having to live in asylum seeker camps only slow down the integration process. 

Another problem is the different impact of asylum seekers on the local communities, and the change in policy this requires. Not all host communities are the same, and neither are the asylum seekers. For example, one  hosting community could be worried about migrants taking their jobs, while others worry more about the draining of their national economic resources. A speedy integration in the workforce will satisfy the needs of the second group, but not the first. We have  to keep different interests in mind while applying measures to help asylum seekers integrate in societies . 

Measures in Place 

INTEGRATE

This EU-funded project has been set to evaluate the impact of asylum and integration policies in Denmark, France, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. The aim of the project is to show evidence of the key parameters of various asylum policies, while on the other hand looking at the alleviation of hostility in extreme-right hosting communities.

The Action plan on Integration and Inclusion 2021-2027

Born out of the New Pact on Migration and Asylum, this plan has been presented by DG Home. It is primarily addressed at Member States and proposes concrete action in the main policy areas of successfully integrating migrants into housing, education, employment and healthcare. 

The Linguistic Integration of Adult Migrants (LIAM)

LIAM is a project by the Council of Europe that offers practical support to organisations who help with language projects, learning programmes and assessment of the learning outcomes. 

Includ-EU

This is another EU-funded project initiated by the IOM which aims to enhance integration of third-country nationals in Europe. They want to achieve this goal through actively integrating migrants into decision-making processes, improving national knowledge, implementing projects that promote integration, and adding  an informal network that will help with learning about integration.

Food for Thought

As we have seen, there are a lot of barriers when it comes to integration. Language, but also employment and getting a fast update on your residential status are of crucial importance. For its long-term success, it is important that the integration process can start as early as possible: both for the migrants and for the economy and social cohesion of the receiving Member States. Due to the excessive amount of paperwork and administrative tasks in the transition phase, many migrants struggle to integrate effectively. How can we implement integration in the early stages of asylum application? And in what ways can we assist migrants when they enter a new society? 

Further Research