CYIL vol. 8 (2017)

CYIL 8 ȍ2017Ȏ MIGRANT INTEGRATION AS A NEW EU AGENDA Under specific circumstances, EU antidiscrimination norms may require positive measures. 24 However, the specific 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 labor 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 25 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. From what has been said so far with regard to EU competences in the field of migrant integration we may conclude 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 specific resources of the Member State concerned. The EU and a complex national approach towards integration Whereas the EU’s sectorial approach towards integration may have an important financial and ideological impact it is still up to the Member States to develop coherent integration policies on the national level. The competent national authorities need to go beyond the delimitation of specific competences and to turn to the whole picture of integration law. We assume that integration as a legal and political concept is bigger than the sum of its parts. In this context we may point to two examples of national integration laws that have been adopted very recently. Both examples show that the process of integration has to be based on a system of constitutional values and principles that presuppose a specific idea of identity. The new Bavarian Law on Integration 26 which entered into force on January 1, 2017 explicitly relies on the traditions of Christian Europe. The preamble to the Law states that “Bavaria is part of the German nation with a common language and culture” and that it also recognizes “the Jewish contribution to its identity”. Further references to European values are contained in the Articles 6 and 7 of the Bavarian Integration Law which deal with the problem of education. According to Article 13 of the Bavarian Integration Law those migrants who demonstratively reject the liberal democratic order, fundamental human rights, the free development of personality and gender equality shall be sanctioned. In the 24 On the concept of positive measures see e.g. BARMES, L. Equality Law and Experimentation: The Positive Action Challenge. Cambridge Law Journal , 3/2009, p. 623-654. 25 COM(2016) 465 final. 26 The draft Law is available on the website of the Bavarian Ministry of Labor, Family and Integration (http://www. stmas.bayern.de/imperia/md/content/stmas/stmas_internet/integration/160510_bayintg_entwurf.pdf). 4.

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