According to an observation made by the European Court of Auditors in a new report on Thursday 17 May, it is very difficult to assess the degree and quality of integration in the member states for legal migrants from third countries, despite these people representing significant potential interest to the member states’ economies.
On this occasion, the Court explained that it was not carrying out an audit of the integration policies in the member states because there are not any reliable statistics to do so for the time being.
The Court was able, however, to identify common challenges in the member states on the basis of European and national level interviews, surveys carried out in the member states and interviews with the International Migrant Organisation and the High Commission for Refugees at the UN.
This report focuses on migrants legally residing in the EU or those in work, family reunification situations, asylum seekers and refugees.
The Court's briefing paper identifies seven main challenges that need to be met. The first challenge involves the speed with which the integration of migrants is tackled. The Court argues that, “the earlier integration starts, the more likely it is to be successful” but that the rules applying to migrants are not the same throughout the EU. Those differences “lead migrants… to move between countries, delaying the start of the integration process”.
The discrimination migrants are victim to constitutes the second major challenge because “the immigration of people from outside the EU continues to evoke a negative feeling for many Europeans”.
EU auditors also consider that more visibility and assessments are required with regard to European funding and point out that “action designed to integrate migrants can be financed through several EU funds” but, “Actual expenditure on integration is unknown”.
Since 2015, the EU has mobilised more than €5 billion in additional funding to tackle increases in migration flows, of which more than €100 million has been allocated to the integration of migrants. The Court of Auditors, however, considers that the needs of migrants must be appropriately assessed upstream in order to ensure that funding is adequate.
The report also highlights the diversity of integration policies in the different member states and the complexity of some of them, given that almost 400 different organisations in the member states are involved in managing European integration funds.
For further information: https://bit.ly/2KtLPyX . (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)