Summary
This Conference aims to discuss the findings of the EU Immigrant Citizens Survey, a new type of European survey piloted by the the King Baudouin Foundation and the Migration Policy Group aimed at increasing the voice of immigrants in the development of integration policies. Most surveys about the integration of migrants in Europe primarily reflect the opinions of the general public on integration issues rather than the views of immigrants themselves. The Immigrant Citizens Survey (www.immigrantsurvey.org) was carried out in several cities in seven EU Member States: Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. The target group was non-EU-born legal residents and naturalised citizens and the aim was to gain an insight into their evaluation of integration policies. This event, focused on the European level of the study, will take place in the Residence Palace in Brussels on the 20th of June.
Description
The conference will be opened by Stefan Schäfers, European Programme Adviser at the King Baudouin Foundation and closed by Yves Pascouau, EPC Senior Policy Analyst.
In between, results regarding language learning, problems on the labour market, and access to citizenship will be presented by the Migration Policy Group, and a panel of experts and policymakers will be asked to present their views, including:
- Carlos Coelho MEP (EPP),
- Guus Extra (to be confirmed), Chair of Language and Minorities, Tilburg University,
- Fiona Kinsman, Deputy Head of Unit Immigration and Integration DG HOME, European Commission,
- Anna Wittenborg, Project Manager, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ),
- Vivien Vadasi, First Secretary, Permanent Representation of Hungary to the EU, and
- Shannon Pfohman, Deputy Director, European Network Against Racism.
Closing remarks will be given by the Head of Immigration and Integration unit at DG HOME of the European Commission, Diane Schmitt. The conference will be moderated by Jacki Davis, EPC Senior Advisor.
To attend, please note that registration is obligatory, please contact n.news@epc.eu.
Interested but can’t join us?The event will be live-blogged – please follow us on Twitter via @migpolgroup and we’ll be using #ICSbxl if you’d like to follow the debate!