Residence Palace, Maelbeek room
Building the Foundations for Inclusion: What Does the Future Hold for Immigrant Integration in Europe?
Multimedia Tabs
Julie Bodson, Advocacy Coordinator, DUO for a Job, Belgium
Elizabeth Collett, Special Adviser to the Director General, International Organization for Migration
Laura Corrado, Head of Unit, Unit B.1 – Legal Migration and Integration, Directorate General for Migration and Home Affairs, European Commission
Tim Dixon, Co-founder, More in Common
Honey Deihimi, Head of Division, Cabinet of the Minister of State to the Federal Chancellor and Federal Government Commissioner for Migration, Refugees and Integration, Germany
Pia Buhl Girolami, Specialist Director, Department of Integration, Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture, Norway
David Manicom, Assistant Deputy Minister for Settlement and Integration, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada
Rachel Marangozov, Research Associate, Institute for Employment Studies; and Director, MigrationWork
Ben Mason, Project Lead, Digital Routes to Integration, betterplace lab
Eleftherios Papagiannakis, Vice Mayor for Migrants, Refugees, and Municipal Decentralization, Athens, Greece
Doug Saunders, Author; International Affairs Columnist, The Globe and Mail
Marco Zappalorto, Chief Executive, Nesta Italia
Welcoming remarks by:
Meghan Benton, Assistant Director, International Program, MPI
Raphaela Schweiger, Senior Project Manager, Topic Area Society, Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH
The migration crisis transformed the landscape of immigrant integration in Europe. Large-scale and spontaneous movements placed unprecedented pressures on public services and amplified social divisions, which, in turn, fueled the rise of populist parties. But while the everyday pressures of the migration crisis have absorbed most of the bandwidth of integration policymakers in recent years, larger challenges could lie ahead. Aging populations will place extreme pressure on welfare-state institutions and public spending. Digitization, automation, and artificial intelligence will transform labor markets as we know them. And greater cultural clashes and social unrest—especially if accompanied by another migration crisis—could further splinter the political landscape. How well Europe can weather tomorrow’s challenges will depend on the institutions and systems built today.
This meeting highlighted lessons from MPI Europe’s flagship Integration Futures initiative, which seeks to develop creative and strategic approaches to addressing today’s toughest integration challenges—and to better plan for those around the corner.
The meeting considered three questions in particular:
- How has the landscape of integration policymaking shifted, and how can policymakers build a sense of common ground in this state of flux?
- What challenges and opportunities could future economic, social, technological, and demographic trends create for integration?
- What are the most promising new innovations to help integration officials solve entrenched integration challenges in an age of populism?