ABSTRACT
This chapter surveys the scholarly debate on EU policies pertaining to the integration of third-country nationals (TCNs) in member states’ societies. This is not at all self-evident, since the European Union has no competence to regulate migrant integration. In the classic distinction proposed by Thomas Hammar (1985: 7–9), ‘immigration regulation’ refers to the control of entry and stay of foreigners, while ‘immigrant policy’ refers to ‘the conditions provided for resident immigrants’. With regard to immigration regulation, the European Union has been attributed competence to legislate by the Treaty of Amsterdam (1999), and the 2000s witnessed the development of a European Asylum and Migration Policy. However, immigrant policy – generally labeled ‘migrant integration policy’ or ‘integration policy’ in the EU context – has been carefully excluded from harmonization. This is not surprising, considering how closely related migrant integration is to other policy areas where member states have been reticent to relinquish national sovereignty, such as social security, labor market regulation, housing and education. In the Lisbon Treaty (2007), member states explicitly excluded ‘any harmonization of the laws and regulations of the Member States’ pertaining to the integration of third-country nationals (Article 79.4).
