The role of integration of immigrants in the economic recovery: Political, social and legal dimensions

The topic of citizen‐making—turning migrants into citizens—is one of the most politically contested policy areas in Europe. Access to European citizenship is governed by national law with almost no EU regulation. The Article brings to the fore normative concerns associated with citizen‐making policies in Europe. It examines ethical dilemmas involved in the process of creating new citizens and promotes the adoption of a European legal framework on access to citizenship. The overall claim is that every newcomer will be required to demonstrate, as a prerequisite for citizenship, attachments to the constitution of the specific Member State, yet the test will be functional, flexible and non‐exclusive.

This paper examines the level of immigrant integration in the New Member States of the EU in period 2009 to 2018 (Czechia, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Malta, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia). The paper uses five indicators for evaluation (activity rate, risk of poverty, tertiary education attainment, overcrowding rate, and health status). The results show overall high level of immigrant integration in the selected countries, especially in Hungary and Malta. The worst level of immigrant integration was assessed in Slovenia and Latvia. Integration into the healthcare system was found as the key problematic area of integration process.

Improved legal status has been found to be associated with better labour market outcomes for immigrants, although causal effects remain difficult to ascertain. This article contributes to the debate on the ‘citizenship/legal status premium' by providing quasi-experimental evidence based on the 2007 EU Eastern Enlargement, following which immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria, the new EU Member States, acquired the EU citizen status.

The cross-national investigation of immigrant subjective well-being remains an understudied field, especially with regard to the link between institutional settings and individual outcomes. The authors approach this gap by investigating the role of policies regulating immigrant integration for life satisfaction.

Using Habermas’ theory of the public sphere, this article examines the potential of conversation-based programming (e.g. conversation groups and language cafes) in public libraries to bring immigrant voices into the public sphere and thereby to facilitate their political integration.

Migrant integration statistics is an online Eurostat publication providing recent statistics on the integration of migrants in the European Union (EU), focusing on different areas.

The World Migration Report 2020, the tenth in the world migration report series, has been produced to contribute to increased understanding of migration throughout the world. This new edition presents key data and information on migration as well as thematic chapters on highly topical migration issues, and is structured to focus on two key contributions for readers: Part I: key information on migration and migrants (including migration-related statistics); and Part II: balanced, evidence-based analysis of complex and emerging migration issues.

The Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX) is a unique tool which measures policies to integrate migrants in countries across five continents, including all EU Member States (including the UK), other European countries (Albania, Iceland, North Macedonia, Moldova, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine), Asian countries (China, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, and South Korea), North American countries (Canada, Mexico and US), South American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile), and Australia and New Zealand in Oceania.

The European Commission is seeking to better integrate migrants and Europeans with migrant backgrounds into larger society.

From the tragic death of Alan Kurdi five years ago, to the thousands of lost lives in the Mediterranean, to the recent fire at the Moria refugee camp, it has been clear for many years now that the European Union's approach to migration and asylum is not fit for purpose. Despite the attempts of the Juncker Commission and the European Parliament to make progress, the EU still not has a solid common migration and asylum policy and the most poor and vulnerable continue to pay the price for our failures.