Arrival Cities BASELINE STUDY FINAL _13 March 2016_ _2

92 Pages·2016·0.93 MB·English

ARRIVAL CITIES

BASELINE STUDY

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Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION 3

Section 1. State of the Art 5

1.1 Introduction 5
1.2 Background information 6
1.2.1 Definitions 6
1.2.2 Numbers 7
1.2.3 Reasons for migration 8
1.2.4 Trends in international migration 9
1.2.5 Public attitudes towards immigration 9
1.2.6 Anti-immigration politics 11
1.2.7 European Union policy 11
1.2.8 Migrant integration 12
1.3 Current issues 14
1.3.1 European Union policy 14
1.3.2 EU funding 14
1.3.3 Migrant arrival issues 15
1.3.4 Migrant integration issues 17
1.3.5 Issues for ethnic minority populations 18
1.4 Migration projects and resources 19
1.5 Annexes 23

Section 2. Partner profiles 25

2.1 Amadora (Portugal) 26
2.2 Thessaloniki (Greece) 30
2.3 Riga (Latvia) 34
2.4 Messina (Italy) 39
2.5 Roquetas de Mar (Spain) 43
2.6 Vantaa (Finland) 47
2.7 Dresden (Germany) 51
2.8 Val-de-Marne (France) 56
2.9 Oldenburg (Germany) 60
2.10 Patras (Greece) 66

Section 3. Synthesis 71

3.1 Arrival Cities: managing global flows at local level 72
3.2 Arrival Cities: common challenges 74
3.3 Arrival Cities: themes for learning and exchange 76
3.4 Good practice in the thematic areas 78
3.5 Learning and capacity needs for Arrival Cities ULGs 80
3.6 Affinities between Arrival Cities partners 81
3.7 Baseline position for local action plans 83
3.8 Annexes 84

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INTRODUCTION

This is the Baseline Study for the Arrival Cities network. Arrival Cities is an action
planning network within the URBACT III pogramme. URBACT is a European exchange
and learning programme supporting sustainable urban development. The URBACT
programme helps cities to develop pragmatic solutions to common policy challenges by
working together. The Arrival Cities network is focused on the challenge of managing
global migration flows at a local level.

The Arrival Cities network is led by the Municipality of Amadora in Portugal. Amadora’s
partner cities in the network are:

• Thessaloniki, Greece
• Riga, Latvia
• Messina, Italy
• Roquetas de Mar, Spain
• Vantaa, Finland
• Dresden, Germany
• Val-de-Marne, France
• Oldenburg, Germany
• Patras, Greece

Migration is a fundamental feature of human society. Throughout human history people
have migrated from place to place, in pursuit of new opportunities or in flight from
danger or hardship. In the modern age, the globalisation of trade, travel and
communications have created new dynamics in international migration. Although global
migration rates have remained relatively stable for many decades, the subject has grown
into one of the most emotive and controversial of contemporary society.

Recent events have propelled migration to the very top of the European political agenda.
Current migration issues are complex and multi-faceted. They include the growing crisis
of refugees seeking safety in Europe, the impacts of this on the frontline regions in
Greece, Italy and Spain, and the political fall out from attempts to agree a common and
humanitarian EU response to refugee arrivals. Other priorities within current migration
issues include: the expressed resentment of some communities towards incoming
migrants, reflected in the electoral success of anti-immigration parties in almost all EU
member states; the emergence of religious extremism with real or putative associations
to acts of terrorism, including the devastating attacks recently seen in Paris; and in
concerns about young people who are leaving their EU homes to join extremist groups
fighting in the Syrian conflict. Current migration issues also include the EU’s challenge of
balancing public, political and media hostility towards further migration with the need to
attract migrant workers to sustain the workforce of Europe’s rapidly ageing population.

Together, the Arrival Cities partners will be working within the URBACT methodological
framework of learning and exchange to improve their local capacity to deal with these
global challenges.

The Arrival Cities network was established in mid-2015 and will be operational through
the two phases of the URBACT Action Planning Network programme. Phase One, the
development phase, took place from September 2015 to March 2016. Phase Two, the
learning and exchange phase, will take place from May 2016 to May 2018.

The purpose of this Baseline Study is to set out the starting point and the context for the
Arrival Cities network’s work in Phase Two. The Baseline Study does this in the following
three sections:

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Section one sets out the ‘State of the Art’ on global migration. Given the enormity of
this subject, this section provides no more than a snapshot of the EU context in which
the Arrival Cities network is operating. The aim is to provide a common understanding
across the network of the key issues, policies, actions and resources for migration and
integration across the EU and with particular reference to the eight member states where
the Arrival Cities partners are located.

Section two provides a profile of each of the ten cities within the Arrival Cities network.
These profiles summarise the key challenges for migration and integration for each city,
and the policy commitments and local actions which are already in place to address
these. The profiles also introduce the composition and leadership of the URBACT Local
Groups which each partner established during the URBACT development phase and
which will manage the common task of producing a Local Action Plan for migration and
integration by the end of the URBACT period in May 2018.

Section three presents a synthesis of the global and national policy contexts outlined in
section one with the local policy contexts described in section two, to show the common
themes within the Arrival Cities network and where the focus will be for the joint learning
and exchange activities in Phase Two.

This Baseline Study was developed in Phase One of the URBACT period. The method for
developing the Baseline Study included visits to each of the ten partner cities to identify
local challenges and responses to global migration and integration, plus two meetings of
all partners to jointly explore these issues and agree the themes for learning and
exchange in Phase Two. The Baseline Study research took place from September 2015 to
February 2016 and this report was produced in March 2016. The Baseline Study was
written by Liz Mackie, Lead Expert for the Arrival Cities network.

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Section 1. State of the Art

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1.1 Introduction

The purpose of this chapter is to provide a snapshot of the EU context in which the
Arrival Cities network will operate. The aim is to provide a common understanding across
the network of the key issues, policies, actions and resources for migration and migrant
integration across the EU. The chapter is organised into three main parts. Part One
provides background information on migration, including definitions, numbers,
international trends and key planks of EU policy. Part Two provides a snapshot of the
current position and key issues for migrant arrival, migrant integration and for ethnic
minority or second generation migration populations. Part Three highlights useful
resources which have been developed to help cities deal with the challenges of managing
migration, including tools and case studies produced by previous URBACT networks.

1.2 Background information

1.2.1 Definitions

According to UNESCO a ‘migrant’ can be defined as "any person who lives temporarily or
permanently in a country where he or she was not born, and has acquired some
significant social ties to this country." (UNESCO, 2015).

Within the European Union context ‘migrants’ are understood to be “non-EU, or third
country nationals who reside legally in the European Union”. (OECD/European Union,
2015)

The main forms of migration are generally distinguished by (a) the motives of the people
who are migrating, and (b) their legal status within the country of arrival. The most
common categorisations of international migrants include:

• Temporary labour migrants (also known as guest workers, contract workers,
seasonal workers): people who migrate for a limited period of time in order to take
up employment and send money home.

• Highly skilled and business migrants: people with high level skills who are often
encouraged to migrate to countries where there is a demand for those skills.

• Irregular migrants (also known as undocumented or illegal migrants): people who
enter a country, usually to seek employment, without the required documents.

• Forced migrants: this includes refugees, asylum seekers, trafficked people and
others forced to move due to external factors.

• Family reunification migrants (also known as family reunion or family members):
people who share family ties with people who have already entered an immigration
country. All EU countries recognise the right to family reunification for legal migrants.

• Return migrants: people who return to their country of origin after a period in
another country.

A separate set of definitions are applied to the descendants of settled migrants. These
are the people who are born in the host country but who are often perceived as different
from the host or majority population, perhaps due to characteristics of their appearance,
culture or religion. These populations are variously referred to as:

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• Second generation migrants;

• Immigrant-descendants;

• Native born immigrant offspring;

• Ethnic, cultural or visible minorities.

1.2.2 Numbers

Globally, the total number of international migrants stood at 232 million in 2013,
representing around 3.2% of the 2013 world population. In 2013, 72 million
international migrants were residing in Europe, representing 9.8% of Europe’s total
population. Four EU member states are in the top ten countries globally with the largest
number of international migrants: Germany (10 million in 2013); UK (8 million), France
(7 million) and Spain (6 million) (United Nations, 2013).

In 2014, 19.6 million people living in the EU were citizens of non-EU countries,
representing 3.9% of the EU-28 population.

The numbers and proportions of migrant populations depend on what measure is used.
Common measures are ‘citizens of non-EU countries’, although this excludes migrants
who are stateless, and people ‘born in a non-member country’, although this can include
EU citizens such as the children of citizens who were living or working abroad at the time
of their birth. The different population figures for Arrival Cities partner countries are
shown in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1: Non-EU migrant populations in Arrival Cities partner countries, 2013

Citizens of a non- Born in a non-
member country member country
Number % of Number % of
(millions) population (millions) population
Finland 0.1 2.2 0.2 3.5
France 2.7 4.1 5.5 8.3
Germany 3.9 4.8 6.0 7.4
Greece 0.6 5.9 0.9 8.4
Italy 3.4 5.7 3.9 6.5
Latvia 0.3 14.9 0.2 12.2
Portugal 0.3 2.9 0.6 6.1
Spain 2.7 5.8 3.9 8.5
[Source: Eurostat, 2015]

Migration is a dynamic process and numbers are constantly changing. A total of 3.4
million people immigrated to one of the EU-28 member states in 2013, and at least 2.8
million people left an EU member state. The figures for migrant arrivals are more
accurate than those for departures and is the main reason why net migration figures are
difficult to calculate with any accuracy and are often subject to fierce political argument.

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1.2.3 Reasons for migration

There are many different reasons why individuals choose or are forced to migrate.
Economic and social theorists group these reasons into ‘push’ factors, such as poverty
and ‘pull’ factors such as economic opportunities. Statistical data on migration into the
EU groups migrants by reason for arrival which are, chiefly: free movement within the
EU, work, family reunification and humanitarian. The largest group of migrants within
the EU is people moving from one EU state to another through freedom of movement.
This is illustrated in Chart I for the Arrival Cities partner countries, while Chart II shows
the reasons for migration into the same countries when freedom of movement is
excluded. For non-EU nationals, family reunification is the main source of inward
migration into most of the Arrival Cities countries. The exceptions are Italy and Spain,
where more migrants arrive for work.

Chart 1.1: Permanent inflows to Arrival Cities countries by migration category, 2005 to
2013
100% 54 3 9 83 21 07 01
90% 14 5 20
80% 28 20 29 36
70%
34 43 7 27
60%
20 30
50%
9 27
40%
11
30% 62
51
20% 43 40 37
32 30
10%
0%
EU(13) Finland France Germany Italy Portugal Spain
Free movement Work Family Humanitarian Other

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[Source: adapted from OECD/European Union, 2015 ]

Chart 1.2: Permanent inflows to selected EU countries by category of immigrant
(excluding free movement) 2005 to 2013
100% 7 5 13 7 32 10 03
90% 9 0
23 8 20
80%
70% 16 48 38 56
35 15 20
60%
50%
40%
30% 57 64
49 53 47 51
20% 41
10%
0%
EU(13) Finland France Germany Italy Portugal Spain
Family Work Humanitarian Other

[Source: adapted from OECD/European Union, 2015]

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The data in Charts 1.2 and 1.2 is only available for OECD EU countries and so does not include all

Arrival Cities partners.
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1.2.4 Trends in international migration

The literature on migration highlights a number of features which are characteristic of
contemporary migration movements. The international trends which are important for
understanding migration in the EU context include the following:

• Migration has become a global trend. More and more countries are significantly
affected by international migration. In 2013, migrants accounted for at least 20% of
the population in 52 countries (United Nations, 2013).

• The direction of dominant migration flows has changed. For many centuries,
Europeans moved outwards to colonise or settle in foreign lands in Africa, Asia,
Australia and the Americas. In the current period, Europe is a major destination for
global migrants. This reversal means that many countries are in ‘migration transition’
meaning that places from which people traditionally emigrated have become lands of
immigration (Castles, 2014). Within the EU, the southern member states of Spain,
Italy, Portugal and Greece are in migration transition.

• Migration has become increasingly differentiated. It is no longer the case that a
country experiences one dominant type of migration. Most countries are now
experiencing multiple types and flows of migration with labour migration, family
reunion, refugee movements, permanent settlements, seasonal migrations and
transitory migrations all happening at the same time.

• Women make up a growing proportion of migrants. Traditional, labour
migration was led by men. But more recently women are also migrating to find work.
Worldwide, 48% of migrants are women.

• Health worker migration is of growing importance. The OECD International
Migration Outlook for 2015 highlights the growing importance of health worker
migration for OECD countries. The proportion of foreign-born doctors employed in
OECD countries grew to an average of more than 22% by 2010/11, while the
proportion of foreign-born nurses increased to almost 15%. There are continuing
concerns about the impacts of this for countries, which are losing their skilled health
workers.

1.2.5 Public attitudes towards immigration

Within the EU, public attitudes towards immigration tend to be negative, although the
degree of negativity is generally less than that portrayed in the media. There are large
variations in public attitudes between member states, and significant differences
depending on the wording of the questions asked and the level of knowledge about
immigration.

A number of cross-national surveys collect data on attitudes towards immigration into EU
member states, including Eurobarometer, the European Social Survey and the
Transatlantic Trends survey. Unfortunately, not all countries participate in all surveys,
nor are these surveys designed to provide comparable data over time, so it is difficult to
collect accurate data about changing trends in public attitudes towards immigration at
member state level.

Research demonstrates that people greatly over-estimate the number of migrants living
in their country and that negative attitudes diminish when people are given accurate
information about migrant numbers. For example, the Transatlantic Trends survey for
2014 found that 31% of people across 10 EU countries agreed that there were “too
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many immigrants in our country” when they were not given information about the actual
percentage of migrants in that country. But for people who were told the percentage of
immigrants only 21% agreed with this statement. The results for selected EU countries
are illustrated in Chart 1.3.

Chart 1.3: Agree that there are ‘too many immigrants in our country’ (%)

58
54
44
39
34
31 31
27 29 28 29
22 21 21
19
17 17
15
Greece UK Italy Portugal Spain EU France Germany Sweden
Given % of immigrants Not given % of immigrants

[Source: Transatlantic Trends, 2014]

The European Social Survey for 2002 asked whether “immigrants make this country a
better or worse place to live”. A large majority in all participating countries tended
towards the middle response; that immigrants make the country neither a better nor a
worse place to live. At the extremes, more people believed that immigrants made the
country a worse place to live than a better place to live, particularly in Greece, where
37% believed this, compared with only 5% who believed that immigrants made Greece a
better place to live. At the other end of the scale, in Finland, more people believed that
immigrants made Finland a better place to live (13%) than a worse place to live (5%).
These findings are illustrated in Chart 1.4.

Chart 1.4: Immigrants make this country a worse/better place to live

37
23
18
17
14 13 13
11
9
7 8 8
5
3
Greece Portugal France Italy Germany Spain Finland
WORSE BETTER

[Source: European Social Survey, 2002]

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