Integrating immigrants: EU ranking

[Mr.Val]

Integrating immigrants: EU ranking

Sweden top for welcoming migrants

Sweden is "entirely favourable to promoting integration"
A study of how Europe integrates immigrants has exposed wide variations in the welcome foreign workers receive.
The European Union-backed research found Sweden doing the most to help migrants settle - and Latvia the least.

Overall, EU nations are only doing half as much as they could, said researchers acting for a consortium of 25 organisations across Europe.

The study of policies across the continent ranks countries on key factors affecting immigrants' lives.

The Migration Integration Policy Index is produced by a consortium of European organisations, led by the British Council and the Migration Policy Group in Brussels.

It measures policies to integrate an estimated 21 million migrants across 25 EU member states by using 140 indicators including:


Immigrants' rights in the workplace

The opportunities for permanent settlement

Permission for family to join them

Laws to combat racism and prejudice

The five states with the largest immigrant populations - the UK, Spain, Germany, Italy and France all ranked in the top half of the table, with Italy coming out best.


(See a map of how the countries fare)
Between them, these five are thought to be home to at least half of all the migrants across the continent.

TOP RANKED NATIONS FOR INTEGRATION
Sweden
Portugal
Belgium
Netherlands
Finland
Source: Migration Integration Policy index

But overall, the study found that only Sweden scored highly enough to be classed as a nation entirely favourable to promoting integration.

While many other states had policies the study said were laudable, each in turn appeared to fall down on at least one key area.

Of all the states looked at, nine had policies classed as partially favourable, five were middling and 10 nations scored lower still.

Sweden scored 100% on the rights it gives to foreign workers and just missed out on the top rating for long-term residency laws.

In contrast, researchers found Latvia restricts foreign workers' rights and gives immigrants little political say in the running of the country.

Researchers scored Sweden and Portugal highest on policies allowing migrants to bring in members of their family - but Austria, Denmark and Cyprus scored lowest.

Transparent system

Sweden was also judged best at giving migrants the right to stay for the long-term, by having what researchers found to be a fair, simple and transparent system.

WORST NATIONS FOR INTEGRATION
Latvia
Cyprus
Austria
Greece
Slovakia
Source: Migration Integration Policy index

The UK scored highly in this category and also in the related area of naturalisation - however it was criticised for a special law introduced to rescind nationality, a power used only once so far against a terrorism convict.

Ireland, in contrast, scored worst on long-term residence partly because researchers said migrants' rights to settle were discretionary and related to employment, rather than time spent in the country and links put down.

Ireland's government is now one of many across Europe that is overhauling its migration policies in response to increased movement of people.

Countries to the east of the European Union scored worst in relation to policies allowing migrants to play a full role in local politics.

Reviews of anti-discrimination measures also produced a mixed picture. Despite strong legal guarantees written into its constitution and laws, Germany was dropped down the league table.

The index is being launched across Europe on Tuesday with individual countries being given separate briefings on the data in the coming months.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7043878.stm

[Mr.Val]

prodolzhenie (eshe 2 stat'i na etu temu):

Analysis: Integrating migrants
By Dominic Casciani
BBC News home affairs

The Swiss People's Party's slogan says "For more security"
It is a controversial poster with a very simple political message: three white Swiss sheep, kicking out their black neighbour.

The Swiss People's Party has been accused of blatant racism, yet it believes its recent poster was legitimate - and that some immigrants should be sent packing.

The politics of migration are often emotive - but should Europe's citizens also be asking whether states do enough to integrate those eventually allowed in?

That is the issue at the heart of a detailed study into how 25 European Union nations, plus three others, treat more than 20 million foreign-born minorities across the continent.

The Migration Integration Policy Index (Mipex) may come with a technocratic-sounding Brussels acronym, but the pages of data reveal hidden stories and subtleties about the history of migration to and within the continent.

It provides a snapshot of how migration has been handled by the biggest economies on the block - but also of the domestic political challenges that migration poses to societies.

So how was this study compiled and what did it conclude? Researchers looked at laws and policies in each country and drew up a list of what they saw as an ideal climate for integrating migrants into a society.

The key factors were rights in the labour force, opportunities to settle and naturalise, political freedoms and humanitarian issues such as permits for families to follow.

The researchers did not interview migrants; instead they scored each nation on 140 indicators to provide a snapshot of the legal position.

Menu of nations

So if you were an immigrant weighing up job opportunities in 28 different nations, which should you go for?

According to the results, you should head for Sweden which in true Eurovision style won near full marks from the international jury of researchers.


Its foreign workers are able to move freely from job to job after just one year - and those who lose work get help learning Swedish and vocational training. It is easy to bring your family in after you - and once settled everyone can vote.

In contrast, Latvia came close to nul points with severe restrictions on work, settlement rights, political participation, topped off with what researchers concluded were weak anti-discrimination laws.

Tricky issues

The reality is of course a little more complex. The study is neither a migrant's equivalent of a good restaurant guide or an attempt to condemn nations for being too illiberal by the standards of Brussels-based thinkers. Statistics can, after all, mask experience.

Protest in France: Migrant's rights a hot topic in some nations

Take the UK's entry, for example. Britain scores well for its anti-discrimination laws - some of the first enacted anywhere in the world. But the study suggests they remain weakly enforced.

The UK also loses marks for not having any official measure for consulting migrants' groups. Mipex suggests such consultative bodies are a good idea - but in reality there is no consensus on their merit.

Some minorities believe these bodies give power to self-appointed "community leaders" who pursue their own agendas.

Another issue is compulsion. Should migrants be "forced" to integrate - such as through obligatory language classes. This is a live issue in countries worried about cultural fall-out.

But language classes are very often over subscribed, suggesting there are no shortage of migrant workers who want to learn.

Social conflict

In fact, what the study does most is highlight how migration policies are a reflection of domestic political mores and history.

Domestic anxieties over new arrivals affects policies

Remember low-scoring Latvia? Most of its "migrants" are Russian-born people who were denied citizenship after the break-up of the USSR. Their restricted rights, compared with migrants elsewhere in the study, are a manifestation of Latvia's fears of Moscow as much as anything else.

France has some of the most developed anti-discrimination laws in Europe - but many migrant groups will readily tell you, in the wake of President Nicolas Sarkozy's tightening of immigration law, that the lot of a dark-skinned French citizen is not that rosy.


In contrast Sweden has long considered itself a beacon of moderate policy-making and so scores highly on what its laws say. It offers Swedish language classes and a whole suite of rights to migrants after just one year in the country.

In reality, the experience on the street is sometimes different: a 2006 study found a youth from an immigrant background had to put in three times more applications to land a job than others in society.

Export to import

And then there are countries which were once exporters of people. Ireland, the Celtic Tiger economy, has found itself attractive after two centuries of seeing people flee poverty.

This has led to an often fractious domestic debate over the rights of migrants in Irish society and the Mipex findings reflect this tension.

So while the report criticises Dublin on some key workers' rights, it also notes the courts last year gave residency rights to foreigners whose children are born in Ireland.

At the other end of the EU there is Poland which has seen so many of its own people head west. But while Polish workers enjoy unlimited access to some EU labour markets, those getting off trains in Warsaw from further east do not experience the same conditions, says the report.

In a globalised age where people are increasingly free and willing to move, governments face a delicate political balancing act between a nation's economic needs and its population's fear of change.

Populations want reassurance that governments are only letting in the right sort of people. Indeed, some people born to immigrants themselves have joined a chorus of concern over whether current levels of migration are sustainable.

The Mipex report asks these populations to pause for a moment and consider what the migrants themselves think - and what kind of role they are being offered in the future of European societies.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7043918.stm


A new study released by the British Council says that the United Kingdom is one of the most welcoming countries for immigrants when compared to 27 other European countries.

The 'Migrant Integration Policy Index' analyzed the integration of immigrants in the 25 European Union states, as well as Norway, Switzerland, and Canada. The UK ranked ninth overall in the report.

The UK was ranked fifth for favorable immigration policies that allow migrants to gain long-term residence and citizenship. They ranked ninth for overall for ease of integration of immigrants, with Sweden coming in first.

However, the UK faired poorly at 15th place in the study for allowing migrants the right to vote and take part in democratic processes.

The British Council study also said that the UK could do better at making family reunification easier. "The conditions for a sponsor include proof of income and accommodation, through a long and expensive procedure," the report said.

"It is our hope that this transparent and accessible account of Europe's integration policies will trigger wider discussion, greater understanding and effective action," said Martin Davidson, the British Council's chief executive.

Overall, Sweden was top country in the report -- followed by Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, Canada, Italy and Norway.

According to the report, previous research showed that 3.4 million people in the UK were born outside the EU -- approximately 1 in 18 of the population.

http://www.workpermit.com/news/2007-...dex-report.htm

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