European Agenda for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals

Cooperation between national, local and regional authorities

The Agenda puts the emphasis on migrants' full participation in all aspects of collective life and highlights the importance of close cooperation between the national governments, responsible for defining their integration policies, and local or regional authorities and non-state actors, who are implementing integration measures on the ground. The European Union (EU) supports such measures through its instruments and, according to the communication,  future EU funding should focus more on promoting integration at local level.

Toolbox to reinforce coordination and knowledge exchange

In order to reinforce coordination and knowledge exchange, the Commission is developing a flexible European toolbox, consisting of integration modules to support policies and practices in Member States. They build on the experiences of what works and what does not work to support integration, for example to organise introductory and language courses, ensure a strong commitment by the receiving society and enhance migrants' participation. These modules can be adapted to the needs of Member States, regions and cities. Common European indicators have also been identified to monitor results of integration policies.

European Agenda

During the launch of the European Agenda for Integration of Third Country Nationals , a qualitative Eurobarometer on migrant integration, which was carried out from March to April 2011, was also presented. 

Background: third country nationals are needed on the European workforce

A breakdown of the population by citizenship in 2010 showed that there were 32.4 million foreigners living in the EU-27 Member States (6.5% of the total population). Of those, 12.3 million were EU-27 nationals living in another Member State and 20.1 million were citizens from a non-EU-27 country (4% of the total population). If the EU is to meet its target to bring the level of employment to 75% by 2020, it is vital to remove barriers for migrants' access to employment – not least since the European workforce is decreasing as a consequence of the demographic challenge that the EU is facing. Ensuring that migrants enjoy the same rights and have the same responsibilities as EU citizens is at the core of the integration process that must start where people meet every day (work places, schools, public areas, etc). The Communication European Agenda for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals responds to a request in the Stockholm Programme, calling on the Commission to enhance coordination and improve tools and structures for knowledge exchange in the area of integration. It builds on the new legal basis introduced in the Lisbon Treaty for incentives and support to Member States' actions to promote the integration of legally residing third-country nationals.