European Union approach to (im)migration: what place for local actors?

Subscribers to PASCAL and those attending the PASCAL Conference in Catania from 7-9 October, where I am speaking, may be interested in my thoughts concerning the European Agenda on Migration:

Since 3 October 2013 when the Lampedusa migrant shipwreck occurred, immigration policy has been hitting the headlines across Europe.  From that date, when a huge number of migrants died in the Mediterranean, the salience of immigration and  asylum policy has significantly grown in the political agenda of the European Union (EU).  Nevertheless, member states have chosen, from the early 1990s onwards, not to give powers in the field to any European institution. For the most part migration and immigration policy is managed by national governments that rule the terms of crossing boundaries, citizenship and eventual integration strategies for  “legal immigrants”.  The European Union is actually at work to improve co-operation amongst Member states in order to solve the “emergency” and European Commission has presented to other institutions a European Agenda on Migration. At a first glance, this agenda has, inter alia, a relevant consideration of liability: it does not consider the local level of government as actors for managing (im)migration policy.

The agenda is focused on four main priorities:

1. to reduce the incentives for irregular migration;
2. to improve the management of external borders in order to save human lives but, at the same time, and to make external borders more secure;
3. to improve the actual common asylum system and;
4. to develop a new policy on legal migration in order to attract foreign workers whom the EU economy needs.

In this framework local policy-makers should have a critical role to play. Indeed, around the world, cities are on the front lines of immigrant integration.

Neverthless, the Agenda on immigration seems to give to the local governments a limited role in the migration policy. Only the following brief reference to the subnational level of government is drafted in the document :

Our migration policy will succeed if underpinned by effective integration policies. Although the competence lies primarily with Member States, the European Union can support actions by national governments, local authorities and civil society engaged in the complex and long term process of fostering integration and mutual trust.

Local level of governments are on the front lines of the integration of immigrants and a re-newed common approach towards immigration should be more inclusive for local authorities,  which  should be included both in the decisional and in the implementation phase of the policy process.