CYIL vol. 8 (2017)

CYIL 8 ȍ2017Ȏ MIGRANT INTEGRATION AS A NEW EU AGENDA However, it seems that when the area of freedom, security and justice was conceived as a new complex of politically sensitive common policies, another important link has been widely neglected – the interrelation and interdependence between migration and asylum on the one hand and migrant integration on the other hand. One single provision of the founding Treaties touches upon the integration of third-country nationals. According to Article 79 paragraph 4 TFEU, which was introduced only by the Treaty of Lisbon, the EU may establish measures to provide incentives and support for the action of Member States in the field of migrant integration. Any harmonization of national law in this field is explicitly excluded. In face of the current migration and asylum crisis which will continue to be one of the major challenges for the next years to come we may ask whether such a weakly worded provision is an adequate legal basis. As EU bodies at present increasingly focus on problems linked to migrant integration, 5 in this contribution we will deal with some conceptual and practical questions related to EU involvement in the integration agenda. Firstly, we ask how the concept of integration can be defined for the purpose of EU law. Which kind of incentives and support for member states action shall be considered? Which different fields of law are involved? Secondly, we will look at concrete EU competences in the area of migrant integration? In some fields of integration law the EU has quite important competences which go far beyond mere incentives and support for Member States. However, in some other fields the role of the EU is rather weak. This leads us to the third question. What is the relation between the sectorial approach towards integration which is to be applied by the EU and complex national integration policies which are defined on the Member State level? Migrant integration as a legal concept It is certainly not easy to define a concise concept of migrant integration for the purpose of national law. 6 It is even harder to elaborate such concept for the EU as a whole. When the Commission in 2003 prepared a short synthesis report on the national integration policies of EU Member States and accession countries it became clear that quite different concepts and approaches existed. 7 In 2003, Member States had neither a uniform definition of integration, nor concrete tools for measuring integration and establishing the success of integration policies. The Commission’s synthesis report at least managed to identify four basic ideas shaping the integration policies of Member States as there is respect for the fundamental values of a democratic society, the right of migrants to maintain their own cultural identity, a comparable standard of rights and obligations for both migrants and citizens and active participation of migrants in all fields of economic, social, cultural, political and civil life. These basic ideas are relevant not only for national integration policies, but should also inspire the EU concept of migrant integration. In its communication of 2003, the Commission defined integration as a two-way process based onmutual rights and corresponding obligations of legally resident country nationals and 5 See e.g. the Council conclusions of the Justice and Home Affairs Council of 5-6 June 2014. The document is available at http://www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/en/jha/82745.pdf. 6 On the problem of constitutional consensus on the concept of integration, see KÖTTER, M. Integration durch Recht? Die Steuerungsfähigkeit des Rechts im Bereich seiner Geltungsvoraussetzungen. In: SAHLFELD, K. et alii (ed .), Integration und Recht. Tagungsband der 43. Assistententagung Öffentliches Recht , München 2003, p. 31‐52. 7 See annex I to COM(2003)336 final. 2.

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