The Action Plan on Integration and Inclusion 2021-2027

On 24 November, the European Commission presented the Action Plan on Integration and Inclusion 2021-2027, aimed at promoting the participation and inclusion in European society of people with a migrant background, both newcomers and those who already have citizenship status. The plan was foreseen in the European Union's New Pact on Migration and Asylum, itself published in September 2020 and to which we have already had occasion to refer in previous texts.

The Action Plan, a continuation of the one established in 2016 (which was limited to the integration of third-country nationals), envisages supporting Member States economically and legislatively, as well as through the promotion of partnerships that facilitate the creation and implementation of social policies in four main areas: education and training; employment; health (health care); and housing.

What do we mean by integration? Classical sociology conceives integration as a process whereby different social groups (located in the same community) come to share values and establish interdependent relationships. If we transfer this conception to migratory contexts, we find different social (or ethnic) groups (the migrants and the host society) that, in a relationship of social interaction, come to share values (those of the resident group, those of both groups) and establish relationships (mainly economic) that make them dependent on each other.

The sociolinguist Francisco Moreno Fernández (inspired by the pyramid used by Abraham Maslow to explain his psychological theory of needs) divides the integration process into four phases: survival integration; work integration (or, where appropriate, school integration); social integration; and, finally, identity integration.

The Action Plan under discussion aims at "long-term integration", which facilitates the "construction of inclusive and cohesive societies", i.e. it aims at identity integration, which allows people of migrant origin to achieve the full development of their personality in the host society (a personality that can be built by combining different identities - that of origin and that of the host community - in different proportions).   

It seems sensible to think that the weight of the linguistic dimension in the integration process is high. For this reason, we believe that the various linguistic relations that may occur in migratory contexts (taking into account, therefore, the language or languages known by the migrants; the language or languages spoken in the receiving community; the relationship - of greater or lesser proximity - between them, etc.) should be taken into account when promoting and encouraging integration processes. These relationships will also vary according to the generation (first, second, etc.) of the migrants. We can therefore include in the social integration process described above, as an essential part of it, (socio)linguistic integration itself.

On the other hand, it is worth considering to what extent the integration processes involved in migratory flows can lead to social changes in the host communities. The sociologist Alejandro Portes has reflected extensively on the relationship between migration and social change. In terms of the depth of the processes of change that migration can bring about, these can be limited to superficially affecting the host society (some economic relations or certain norms) or they can promote more far-reaching changes (in the value system, the social structure or the distribution of power). This capacity for change is related to three factors: the volume (of migrants) involved; the duration of the movement; and the composition of migration flows (in terms of the cultural and professional level of the migrants).

Alejandro Portes' observations regarding the most appropriate time frame of reference for the analysis of migration processes and their consequences are also very interesting. According to this sociologist, short-term approaches do not allow us to see the most lasting effects; the study of long periods of time can be equally misleading, presenting as a gradual process what in reality has been uneven and full of ups and downs. Intermediate frames of reference (which Portes places in the time span of two or three generations) seem to this author to be the most appropriate; according to this consideration, in the specific case of Spain, for example, we would still need a little more time perspective to judge the effects that the different groups of migrants who have arrived in our country in recent decades have had on our communities.

Luis Guerra, Professor of Spanish Language at the European University of Madrid, is one of the main researchers of the INMIGRA3-CM project, financed by the Community of Madrid and the European Social Fund.