Meeting on what migration and integration measures are needed for employment, education and social inclusion

Date: February 27 Time: 14.00-16.00  Place: Social Platform (18 Square de Meeûs, 1050 Brussels)  

Following the adoption of Social Platform's common position on migration last June and in order to support our work on the future of Justice and Home Affairs (post-Stockholm), we are pleased to invite our member organisations to a capacity building session initiated by one of our partners, the Migration Policy Group.

Migration and integration policies are shaped in the context of European co-operation on socio-economic and financial affairs, justice and home affairs, and international relations and development. Different policy-making rules and mechanisms apply in these areas. We will co-organise a meeting on February 27 to discuss what migration and integration measures are needed and how can they be put on European agendas. The Migration Policy Group will present its findings of a review of annual reports prepared in the framework of the Europe 2020 Strategy and by DG Home Affairs, where they have studied what policies and practices are reported on and what Country Specific Recommendations are made.

We believe that members with expertise on all the strands of the Open Method of Coordination as well as members with expertise on migration and integration could be a valuable asset for this capacity building session. Some of you have expertise in both areas. We will also invite representatives from the Commission DG HOME, DG EMPL and DG EAC.

The discussion will take a particular look at the Zaragoza indicators. (The Zaragoza Declaration was approved at the JHA Council on 3-4 June 2010, where the Commission was called upon to undertake a pilot study to examine proposals for common integration indicators in the areas of: employment, education, social inclusion, and active citizenship)

Please register with Annica by February 14 at the latest so that we can tailor the seminar according to the registered participants.

 

Background

Report (requested by the Commission) on ‘Using indicators to monitor immigrant integration and evaluate policies in the EU’ (Aug, 2013)

Social Platform's position paper on migration includes several recommendations referring the need for migration mainstreaming into general EU processes and policies which can be interesting to bear in mind for the above seminar

  • General international and EU commitments, such as the EU accession to the ECHR and the Social Charter
  • Implementation of existing anti-discrimination law (the Racial Equality and the Employment Equality Directive) and of the Victim’s Rights Directive and the Anti-Trafficking Directive
  • Mainstreaming into EU’s regular policy priorities (the EU Strategy on Equality between Women and Men, Europe 2020 Strategy, NRF, CSR, European Semester)
  • Removal of national legislation that criminalise solidarity actions (including by service providers and health professionals) and investment in universal social protection systems
  • Access to essential services – including housing, education, financial services (e.g. access to basic bank accounts)
  • Respect of labour rights and decent working conditions (e.g. respect of ILO, use of ESF, Anti-Trafficking Directive)
  • Guarantee social rights to all EU-citizens and define better sets of criteria on free movement