Brussels, 04/11/2008 (Agence Europe) - After a meeting of European ministers with responsibility for integration, in Vichy (France) on 3-4 November, French Minister for Immigration, Integration, National Identity and Development Cooperation Brice Hortefeux announced that he was going to promote a “toolbox” to make it easier for new immigrants to integrate. These tools are to be used for three priorities: learning the language, respect for values, and access to employment. The meeting, at which 14 EU countries were represented by their integration ministers and 13 by officials from the ministries, also welcomed representatives from Switzerland and Norway.
The final declaration identified commitments and follow-ups: - informing newly arrived immigrants, according to each member state's own arrangements; - publicising the Commission's integration website, to be launched in March 2009; - supporting immigrants through the various stages and steps towards integration; - promoting and enhancing the role of associations; - developing tools that ease access to employment; - encouraging the taking into account of diversity in the world of work and improving information.
“Our starting point was that, in Europe, integration policies had always been a failure,” Hortefeux said opening the meeting. He went on: “We are different, but we all face the same difficulties and challenges”. He called on his counterparts to show “humility” with regard to national integration systems that had “run out of steam”.
During the meeting, the chairman of the European Parliament civil liberties, justice and home affairs committee, Gérard Deprez (ALDE, Belgium) highlighted the importance of using means that were already available to promote the integration of immigrants, such as the European Integration Fund, set up by the Council in June 2007 and with a budget of €825 million for the period from 2007 to 2013. “This fund is having a potentially difficult time getting started,” he told ministers, adding that “hitherto, the take-up in payment appropriations is under 10%. The money available for 2008 has just been reduced by €15 million after the Commission proposed a transfer”. He also said that accession to the EU operates like a suction pump for immigration. In other words, every country is affected by this phenomenon.
Justice Freedom and Security Commissioner Jacques Barrot suggested developing joint European modules for integration and the assessment of integration policies to “successfully draw up integration programmes throughout Europe”. He also called for indicators and methods of assessment. “Our ability to analyse and share information on integration must be enhanced more systematically from now on,” he stressed.
The meeting in Vichy is the third of its kind, following those in Groningen (Netherlands) in 2004, and Potsdam (Germany) in 2007. The next integration conference is due to be held under the Spanish Presidency in the first half of 2010. (L.B.S./transl.rt)