Using EU Indicators of Immigrant Integration - European ...

goals. Immigrants are often addressed as ‘vulnerablegroups.’ This label risks to overlook whatimmigrants add to society, for example theirentrepreneurship, work filling labour shortages,university qualifications, role as internationalstudents, foreign language skills, new families,active citizenship, diverse backgrounds, and contributionto greater openness in society. Immigrantsbring valuable resources for society andeconomic growth. Governments have the greatestimpact on their socio-economic goals byeffectively targeting the most relevant groups,including immigrants.Policymakers who attended the project’s seminarsshared the experience of countries and citiesthat have set integration targets. The Germanfederal government used the results of itsnational integration indicators to set measurablepolicy goals and targets, agree on new policies,and monitor progress. In addition, Denmark usesmeasurable goals and targets not only to monitorprogress through its Integration Barometer,but even to benchmark and reward municipalitiesfor their performance in contributing to theseoverall goals. Cities like Berlin and Vienna workwith Diversity Benchmarks to improve diversitywithin the city administration. A few MemberStates have also set integration-specific targetsas part of their National Reform Programmes. AtEU level, the use of targets for integration couldbe foreseen in existing policy frameworks suchas the Open Method of Coordination in the areaof employment, education, social inclusion andprotection, and culture. This would involve Eurostat,various national ministries, and various EUstructures11.3.1. First option: Looking at EUintegration indicators within theframework of key EU targets.The Europe 2020 Strategy aims for higherlevels of employment, productivity, and socialcohesion in the EU. The EU agreed five ambitiousHeadline Targets to be reached by 2020,towards which Member States set their ownnational targets. Migration and integration havesteadily received greater attention in existingEU OMCs. An important aspect of EU integrationindicators is that the Europe 2020 and theET 2020 have now been disaggregated andprovided for all EU Member States, accordingto harmonised definitions of country of birthand citizenship. The integration indicators cantherefore easily be included in these processes,if monitoring migrants is made a priority. TheEuropean Commission can use these indicators’results in order to mainstream migrants into EUrelevant policies.The existing list of EU integration indicatorslargely reflects the EU 2020 targets, agreed atthe highest political level. Since these generalpolicies and goals are relevant for integration,the EU integration indicators generally use thesame indicators, disaggregated for immigrantgroups. The Commission will have to adapt theEU integration indicators to keep up with changesin the EU’s main targets. For example, sincethe conclusions on the EU integration indicatorsat Zaragoza, the European Council in 2010adopted Europe 2020 targets that expandedthe definition of poverty from at-risk-of-povertyto at-risk-of-poverty-and-social-exclusion. Respondingto the crisis’ impact on youth unemployment,the European Council in May 2012added a new ET2020 benchmark on the share ofemployed graduates (20-34-year-olds) in theirfirst three years after graduation. New indicatorsmay be proposed on social inclusion, social protection,and health. Aligning the EU integrationindicators requires basic coordination betweenEU Commission services and the relevant indicatorsub-groups.11.3.2. Second option: Calculate howimproving integration helps MemberStates to meet their general goalsand targets for society.The EU integration indicators can be used toestimate the impact of improving integrationon the general conditions in society. Closingthe gap for immigrants will bring EU MemberStates much closer to their targets for smart,sustainable, and inclusive growth. Dependingon the characteristics and size of the population,the first and second generation are amajor target group for improving outcomes insociety, especially in the EU’s well-establishedcountries of immigration. The project’s analysisreport calculated these estimates for the foreign-bornfor Europe 2020 headline targets onemployment, early school leaving, and at-riskof-poverty-and-social-exclusion.Closing theemployment gap could account for around 10 %of the Europe 2020 targets across EU MemberStates. Half-a-million young people could beprevented from leaving school early (or 8.7 %of all early school leavers in the EU). 3.3 millionpeople could be lifted out of poverty or socialexclusion (or 5 % of all those currently at risk inthe EU). These calculations may be repeated fordifferent immigrant groups, such as foreigners,third-country nationals, the first and secondgeneration,women, and children. The calculationsidentify the areas and the countries whereimmigrants are a major target group for generalpolicies. These estimates initiate a datadrivenprocess of mainstreaming with the aim49