WRITTEN QUESTION E-3029/03 by Philip Claeys (NI) to the Commission. Commission communication on immigration, integration and employment — factors inhibiting integration.
Date: 2003-10-17
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU migration policy, employment policy, foreign national, immigration, integration of migrants, rights of aliens

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WRITTEN QUESTION E-3029/03

by Philip Claeys (NI) to the Commission

(17 October 2003)

Subject: Commission communication on immigration, integration and employment (cid:1) factors inhibiting

integration

In its communication (1), the Commission says on page 23 that: ‘accurate information about immigrants
and their positive contribution, both economically and culturally, to our societies needs to be publicised’
(…). No one doubts the need for accurate information. It is therefore essential that this information should
be comprehensive and that there should be no taboo subjects. For many years, however,
it has been
considered politically correct to keep quiet about or disregard certain problematic aspects of the presence
of large numbers of immigrants: higher unemployment among certain groups, high levels of crime,
cultural practices that are in breach of our fundamental principles of human rights and equality
(subordinate position of women, arranged marriages, etc.). Such practices put a brake on integration and
problems cannot be solved by simply glossing over them.

The Commission also advocates easier access to citizenship of the European host country and the right to
vote, without linking these rights to any conditions. Practical experience shows, however, that such a lax
approach tends to hinder rather than encourage integration.

In the Netherlands,

Family reunification is also welcomed. However, the scale of family reunion and marriages between
immigrants resident in Europe and partners from their country of origin is in fact an obstacle to
integration.
it has been established that between 70 and 80 % of
Moroccan and Turkish residents marry a partner from their home country. The vast majority of those
concerned generally speak no Dutch and are ignorant of the values and customs of their host country, as a
result of which what little progress has been made towards integration is automatically reversed or comes
to nothing.

for example,

The Commission document pays no attention to any responsibilities that immigrants themselves might
have for the problems faced today and for solving them. Is the Commission prepared to introduce or
support measures designed to strengthen the linkage between rights and responsibilities (learning the
language of the host country, respecting its laws, respecting equality between men and women, acceptance
of the principle of separation of church and state)? If so, what measures are planned?

(1) COM(2003) 336 final.

Joint answer
to Written Questions E-2937/03, E-2938/03, E-2986/03, E-3004/03
and E-3029/03 given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(17 November 2003)

All five questions posed by the Honourable Member relate directly to the Commission Communication on
immigration, integration and employment and should, therefore, be answered jointly.

The Commission is aware of the results of the studies mentioned by the Honourable Member and these
studies as well as the results of any other pertinent studies conducted in this field will be considered and
taken into account as a source of information by the Commission. In general the overall net fiscal impact
of immigration is perceived to be fairly small. As a result immigration is neither a solution to the financial
problems of ageing populations nor a significant fiscal burden.

The Commission is aware that studies on the fiscal impact of immigration provide different assessments of
the net fiscal impact of immigration. These different results can be explained mainly by different national
circumstances such as the degree of integration of immigrants, and probably also to some extent by
methodological problems.

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In particular two often opposite factors are significant in determining the fiscal impact on public finances:
on the one hand the age composition of immigrants is beneficial to public finances as immigrants are on
average relatively young people in the working age with a larger than average potential for having their
tax payments exceed the individual public transfers and services; on the other hand, the relatively low
employment rate among immigrants in most current Member States may partly or entirely counteract the
fiscal impact of a beneficial age composition. Moreover the employment rate of immigrants compared to
the employment rates of the host population varies strongly across Member States.

The Commission is concerned about the possible undesirable effects of immigration on certain categories
of domestic workers, such as blue-collar workers in manufacturing industries and unskilled labour in
services. In its proposal for a Council Directive on the conditions of entry and residence of third-country
nationals for the purpose of paid employment and self-employed economic activities (1) the Commission
expressly proposes to enshrine at Community level the principle of preference for the Community labour
market as a legally binding rule, applicable throughout the Union. This principle, which reflects the rules
already in force in Member States, requires a thorough assessment of the domestic labour market situation
before the admission of third-country workers. In concrete terms it implies that third-country nationals
may only accede the Union labour market, if a post cannot be filled with domestic (Union) workers.

The relevance of the problem of brain drain differs widely from sending country to sending country and
from sector to sector. In some cases, the costs of brain-drain seem to be more than compensated by other
benefits for the sending country, such as remittances, transfer of know-how and the development of closer
commercial links through the presence of natural persons. Policies that clearly define temporary status and
encourage return are key measures to prevent possible negative effects. Likewise, developed countries can
help developing countries with flanking targeted policies on education and training, scholarly exchange,
and integration in information, communications, and technology.

According to the outline for a common Union asylum and immigration policy as set by the Tampere
European Council
in 1999, this policy should include the element of fair treatment of third country
nationals residing legally on the territory of the Member States. The European Council conclusions state
that the legal status of the legally residing third country nationals should be approximated to that of
Member States’ nationals. Such persons should be granted a set of uniform rights, which are as near as
possible to those enjoyed, by Union citizens.

The Commission has proposed a Directive concerning the status of third country nationals who are long-
term residents (2), on which the Council reached political agreement on 5 June 2003. In addition to equal
treatment with nationals as regards, for example, access to employment, education, social assistance,
freedom of association to be provided by the Directive, the Commission believes that the Member States
should consider granting political rights to long-term residents,
level, when
transposing the Directive into national law (cid:1) although this issue remains a competence of Member States.

in particular at

local

Immigrants are directly affected by policies in areas such as public housing, health services and education
where municipal authorities tend to have strong competencies. Granting a local franchise may thus
provide political representation in decisions that affect the most immediate interests of immigrants and
consequently promote the integration process. Several Member States have already granted third country
nationals franchise at local elections and there is, therefore, no reason to believe that there is a strong
public opposition against this in all Member States. The Commission also points out that none of the
countries that have introduced the franchise for non-citizens is considering abolishing it, so it does not
seem to have had any negative impact on these societies.

The Tampere European Council explicitly requested ‘a more vigorous integration policy’ which ‘should aim
at granting legally resident third country nationals rights and obligations comparable to those of EU
citizens’. The Commission fully agrees that also immigrants themselves must take responsibility for their
integration into the host society. The Commission believes that integration is a two-way process, which is
based on mutual rights and corresponding obligations. This implies, on the one hand, that it is the

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responsibility of the host State to ensure that the formal rights of immigrants are in place in such a way
that immigrants have the possibility of participating in economic, social, cultural and civil life and, on the
other hand, that immigrants respect the fundamental norms and values of the host society and participate
actively in the integration process. It should be noted, that in the proposal for a Directive on the status of
third-country nationals who are long-term residents (2), on which political agreement was reached in June
2003, Member States may require that third country nationals comply with integration conditions in
accordance with national law as condition for acquiring long-term residents status. Conditions for access to
citizenship are a matter for Member States but it is clear that citizenship, which brings both rights and
obligations for the person concerned, can be an important step in the integration process.

(1) OJ C 332 E, 27.11.2001.
(2) OJ C 240 E, 28.8.2001.

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WRITTEN QUESTION E-2939/03

by José Ribeiro e Castro (UEN) to the Commission

(6 October 2003)

Subject: Promoting and publicising EURES

When my report on the Commission’s EURES activity report 1998-1999 entitled ‘Towards an integrated
European labour market the contribution of EURES’ for the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs
(A5-0169/2001), adopted on 31 May 2001, was submitted and debated, I drew attention to the fact of
public ignorance of the service in the Explanatory Statement.

I wrote that ‘the efforts to promote and publicise the service should be substantially intensified’, proposing
the use of ‘publicity … consist [ing of] permanent information, through prolonging and overcoming the
merely temporary effect of advertising and promotion campaigns’.

I then observed that for example, EURES website already includes links to job classified announcements
published on-line by several press media in Member States, and then asked ‘why not negotiate with these
media,
in compensation, not only the corresponding cross-links connecting their on-line additions to
EURES database, but also the insertion of small ads to EURES network in the correspondent printed
editions?’

I would therefore ask the Commission:

(cid:1) What measures has it taken or does it intend to take to promote and publicise EURES? Specifically,

has it already contacted press media, as I suggested? If so, what were the reactions?

(cid:1) How many users visited the new EURES portal in the days immediately following its reopening after
recent remodelling? What difficulties or problems were detected? Is use uniformly spread amongst
nationals of the various Member States? Does any nationality preponderate?

(cid:1) What percentage of the ‘first job market’ does the Commission envisage as being concentrated in

EURES?

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(11 November 2003)

In connection with the launching of the new EURES job mobility portal on 19 September 2003, a press
conference was organised and the event received good media coverage all over Europe. The accompanying
mobility information campaign, launched on the same day, will ensure further publicity support to EURES
throughout 2003/2004 since all the material used during the campaign refers to the EURES portal, which
is also the campaign website (http://europa.eu.int/eures/index.jsp).