European Integration Index: Which Countries lead and Lag
A recent report assessing immigrant integration across the european Union reveals significant disparities in how well member states support newcomers. The index, evaluating policies across six key areas – access to law, healthcare, permanent residence, citizenship, education, and political participation – highlights Spain as a leading example, while Denmark and Austria face considerable challenges.
Spain and Germany: Leading the Way
Spain currently demonstrates strong integration policies, scoring 100 in access to law, 75 in access to healthcare and permanent residence, though access to citizenship remains comparatively weak at 30. The country boasts a robust anti-discrimination law enacted in 2022, covering areas like education and social protection, alongside strong equality bodies. Immigrants, irrespective of their origin (EU or non-EU), enjoy equal access to employment, self-employment support, and social security. Spain has also recently introduced a legal pathway for individuals to arrive for vocational training, master’s degrees, or lifelong learning, with opportunities to seek employment upon completion of their studies, and utilizes thes programs to regularize undocumented migrants.
Germany follows with a score of 61, excelling in labor market access (81), anti-discrimination policy (70), and recently improved citizenship access (67). Though, family reunification policies remain a weaker point (42).
Mid-Range Performers: Italy and France
Italy (58) performs strongly in healthcare access (79), anti-discrimination law (78), permanent residence, and labour market access (67), but lags significantly in political participation (25). France (56) achieves high scores in anti-discrimination (79) and access to citizenship (70), but faces challenges in family reunification, education (43), and political participation (45).
Challenges in denmark and Austria
Denmark and Austria score below 50 (49 and 47 respectively), indicating significant room for betterment. Denmark’s restrictive policies on family reunion (25) and permanent residence (42) received the lowest marks among all EU countries. It also ranks low on citizenship (41) and anti-discrimination policies (51),despite relatively good access to the labour market (65).
Austria’s low score is primarily attributed to the difficulty of obtaining nationality for third-country nationals (score of 13), ranking second to last in the EU in this area.Political participation (20) and family reunion (36) are also weak areas.However, Austria performs well in healthcare access (81), alongside reasonable education and labour market mobility policies.
Overall Trends and Weaknesses
Across the EU, anti-discrimination policies are strongest (overall score of 78), followed by permanent residence (61) and labour market access (55). The weakest areas consistently prove to be education (50), access to citizenship (44), and especially political participation (37).
The report indicates that recent progress has been driven by improvements in education, labour market policies, and anti-discrimination measures. Conversely, the situation has deteriorated regarding citizenship, permanent residence, and political participation.Currently, only six EU countries – Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, and Sweden – allow non-EU nationals to stand as candidates and vote in local elections. Nine countries impose restrictions on voting, and 17 allow non-EU nationals to join political parties without limitations.
