The Commission wants to ensure that legal migrants, refugees or migrants arriving through other legal channels in the EU, feel welcome and fully integrated in the host Member State, in particular as regards employment, education, social services or housing.
It presented an action plan on Tuesday 24 November, which is intended to remedy the shortcomings in each of these areas within 7 years.
There are “34 million migrants in the EU, born outside the EU, which is 8% of the European population, so they are not ‘them’ but they are ‘us’”, said Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson. And it’s important “that they don't feel rejected”.
Sixty actions have been prepared by her services and those of the Vice-President for the Promotion of the European Way of Life, Margarítis Schinás, who also stressed on 24 November that an inclusive society is one of the pillars of the famous European way of life, which had caused controversy when the von der Leyen Commission was set up.
In particular, the Commission wants to rely on the local level and associations and promote integration through language courses, which should, for example, be adapted to the constraints of migrant women who are still breastfeeding. “This is what is done in Sweden”, said the Commissioner, who is from Sweden.
It is also necessary to promote inclusive “non-segregated” housing and to provide migrants with greater access to social housing, says the Commission, whose plan does not, however, include any binding demands.
For access to employment, there is also a need to strengthen the recognition of professional qualifications and diplomas obtained by migrants. The Commissioner pointed out that many overqualified migrants (who account for 1/4 of the 34 million people) work in jobs that do not correspond to their qualifications. She also referred in that respect to the necessary gender dimension in this action plan, as migrant women suffer more discrimination.
This is particularly true in terms of access to health care, as women may have a poorer command of the country’s language and therefore lack the necessary information, the Commissioner said.
The Action Plan will make the Asylum and Migration Fund available for these inclusion actions to a greater extent than the previous strategy, although the Commission did not mention a specific budget. It also calls for the use of other resources such as the Structural Funds or Erasmus +.
The Commission notes in its Action Plan that currently the share of people with a lower level of education is higher among migrants (38.5% among migrants aged 25-64 compared to 19.6% among natives, according to 2019 figures).
The gap can also be seen in employment, with an employment rate of 64.2% in the 20-64 age group compared to 73.9% for the same category of natives, with rates even lower among migrant women.
The risk of poverty and social exclusion is also higher among migrants than among EU natives, with a risk of 39.9% compared to 19.5% among natives.
Pact on Migration
Margarítis Schinás also considered that while migration, whether illegal or legal, remains a sensitive issue for Member States, the Commission considers that these actions on the inclusion of migrants in European societies have the potential to positively influence the discussions on the Pact on Migration and Asylum.
Travel in Morocco
Asked about the situation in Spain and the Canary Islands, the Commissioner welcomed Madrid’s efforts to house thousands of migrants who had arrived in the Canary Islands in recent weeks. Spain has also applied for European funds to support these housing efforts, she said. The Commissioner has also indicated that she will be going to Morocco next week to talk about irregular immigration. However, the two officials refused to comment on the images of the violent evacuation of a migrant camp by the French police on Monday 23 November in Paris.
Link to the action plan: https://bit.ly/339IqRy (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)