Common European Asylum System in a Changing World

norms go beyond intersectionality. Without a doubt, EU fundamental rights law is a typical cross-cutting issue. Provisions granting e.g. the right to religious freedom and the right to education may have a clear impact on the status of migrants in the host country. The principle of non-discrimination is laid down in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and also in EU directives. The Race Equality Directive of 2000 4 provides migrants of different ethnic origin protection against discrimination with respect to access to employment, access to education, working conditions, social protection (including social security and healthcare), housing, and access to other goods and services which are available to the public. The Employment Equality Directive of 2000 5 declares any discrimination unlawful e.g. based on the grounds of religion. Under specific circumstances, EU antidiscrimination norms may require positive measures. 6 However, the concrete form and the scope of such measures are not quite clear. Access to education and special language training as well as affirmative action on the labour market and the housing market depend not only on moral considerations and political will but also on the economic and financial resources of the Member State concerned. When the Commission in July 2016 presented a proposal for a new directive laying down standards for the reception of applicants for international protection, 7 it stated that there are wide divergences in the level of reception conditions in the Member States. It is undisputed that those different standards are one of the major reasons for secondary movements of asylum seekers from poorer to richer Member States. In short, not only numbers matter but also money matters in the context of migrant integration, and as long as Member States do not have comparable resources migrants and asylum seekers will tend towards some kind of “integration shopping ”. It is very doubtful whether the EU will be able to define common or at least similar standards of social benefits and working opportunities for migrants in all Member States. It may be concluded that Article 79, paragraph 4 TFEU provides only a part of the picture. The supporting competences of Article 79, paragraph 4 TFEU are rounded by shared competences in the fields of migration and asylum policy, social policy, employment, and anti-discrimination policy. So, as integration is a vaguely defined process, it involves a number of different EU competences. However, there still remains significant space for autonomous national measures in the field of migrant integration, especially with a view to the concrete resources of the Member State concerned.

4 Council Directive 2000/43/EC of 29 June 2000 implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin. 5 Council Directive 2000/79/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation. 6 On the concept of positive measures see e.g. Barmes, L. Equality Law and Experimentation: The Positive Action Challenge. Cambridge Law Journal, 3/2009, pp. 623-654. 7 COM(2016) 465 final.

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