Immigration, Integration and Citizenship in European Union Law: The Position of Third Country Nationals

• Date: 01 January 2008

Immigration, integration and citizenship

in European Union Law: the position of

third country nationals

CLIODHNA MURPHY*

Introduction

The integration of immigrants into the institutional and social fabric of

receiving societies is an issue which has received increasing attention in

recent times. Integration has been variously described as “a matter of social

cohesion and a prerequisite for economic efficiency”,1and “the process of

economic mobility and the social inclusion of newcomers”.2In the Irish

context, the first Irish Minister for Integration was appointed in 2007,3and

the Immigrant Council of Ireland has observed that:

We are starting to realise that, when immigrants settle in a country, they

have to find opportunities to ‘belong’ and participate in that country. We

realise that this is as true in the practical sense (for example, in relation

to employment) as in the social, political, and cultural sense.4

Even in more straitened financial circumstances, immigration will continue

to be a feature of Irish society for the foreseeable future, and integration

issues should not be sidelined.5

Law plays a significant role in the process of integration. Law defines the

framework within which integration does or does not happen by regulating

*Cliodhna Murphy is a trainee with McCann Fitzgerald. Special thanks to Dr Rosemary

Byrne for helpful comments on drafts of this article. Any errors or omissions of course

remain my own.

1 Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the

European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions:

Immigration, Integration and Employment(Brussels, COM (2003) 336) (hereinafter,

“2003 Communication”) at p 17.

2See Fix, “Immigrant Integration and Comprehensive Immigration Reform: An

Overview” in Migration Policy Institute, Securing the Future: US Immigrant and

Integration Policy(2007).

3Conor LenihanTD was appointed Minister for State with Responsibility for

Integrationin June 2007.

4Immigrant Council of Ireland and Migration and Citizenship Research Unit UCD,

Getting On – From Migration to Integration: Chinese, Indian, Lithuanian and

Nigerian Migrants’ Experience in Ireland(May 2008), Introduction.

5See for example “Integration now more urgent than ever”Irish Times 13 July 2008.

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the legal and social conditions of migrants’ everyday lives. The rights of

non-citizen groups are increasingly defined in terms of their membership of

legal and administrative categories and law thus defines migrants’ rights and

obligations and grantsor restricts access to essential elements of the

integration process. Legal mechanisms thus act as both instruments of and

barriers to integration, as well as shaping perceptions of identity and who

“belongs” in a state.

Against this backdrop, the approach taken in European Union (EU) law

and policy to the integration of third country nationals is important on a

number of levels. On a strictly legal level, EU law constitutes a significant

body of norms impacting on integration in all Member States.6This body

of norms will be considered in detail in this article. On a more abstract level,

the European Union provides a supranational dimension to citizenship and

belonging, potentially leading to a cosmopolitan openness towards the

‘other’.7The transformative potential of EU law in the field of migration has

been witnessed in the case of EU citizens. EU law relating to the free

movement of workers altered the status of EU migrant workers and their

families in a legal sense with a consequent change in the way in which such

migrants are perceived. Nationals of EU Member States living and working

in other Member States have been gradually transformed from ‘immigrants’

subject to the conditions of entry and residence imposed by the State, to EU

citizens, entitled to equal treatment and respect as the host population. The

concept of European citizenship has been a significant element of this

process. It has thus been seen that EU law can in itself constitute an

instrument of integration.

This article aims to examine the conceptual and legal framework formed

by EU law for the exploration of the question of the integration of non-EU

national migrants (referred to in this article as third country nationals or

‘TCN’s), with the primary aim of determining whether EU law contains a

coherent paradigm of integration. EU integration policy can be split into

two separate but interlinked spheres: specific ‘soft’ integration policy and

conceptions of integration contained in general immigration law, and this

article will consider each in turn. This will be followed by a discussion of

the implications of the developing concept of EU citizenship for the inte -

gration of TCNs. It will be argued that EU law encompasses a multiplicity

of conceptions of integration, due in part to the preoccupation of Member

6Asthe Irish Minister for Integration has observed: “globalisation, among other

international phenomena, binds us together with other States and standardises

experiences generated by the movement of people. As an EU Member State, this

binding is a powerful determinant of integration issues and the role of the EU is

particularly relevant.” Office of the Minister for Integration, Migration Nation:

Statement on Integration Strategy and Diversity Management(May 2008) at p 29.

7Kostakopoulou, “European Union Citizenship: Writing the Future” (2007) 13(5)

European LJ 623 at pp628–629.

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