Abstract
In Belgium, the Brussels-Capital Region constitutes the main gateway for international migration. Like everywhere in Europe, the challenge of immigration and in particular what happens afterwards, namely the integration of new immigrants in the host society, is particularly palpable in Brussels. Within the Belgian federal state, the federated entities have implemented different integration policies. Recently, these policies have experienced major upheavals, especially in Brussels where the result raises questions. Different (and possibly competing) institutions are competent, and today there are two civic integration programmes in the same territory: one from the Dutch-speaking community and the other from the French-speaking community. The aim of this article is to examine these policies by placing them in the particularly complex institutional context of Brussels. This involves studying and understanding the institutional labyrinth in which these policies exist, as well as describing them in order to compare them. This institutional puzzle has consequences for the stakeholders, i.e. the authorities and the migrants themselves.
Highlights
The Region constitutes the main gateway for international migration, as approximately 11% of its active population are recent immigrants, i.e. of foreign nationality and who have lived in Belgium for less than five years [IBSA, 2014]
This goes to show how significant and sensitive the challenge of immigration is in the Brussels Region, in particular what happens afterwards, namely the integration of new immigrants in the host society
From an institutional point of view, while the policy for the reception and integration of immigrants has been a competence of the Communities since 1980, the French-speaking community transferred this competence to the Walloon Region and the French Community Commission (COCOF) in Brussels in 1993 3 [Clement & Van de Putte, 2007]
Summary
According to the CBAI-UCL study [Ansay et al, 2012], there were 120,000 newcomers in the Region on 1 January 2013, which corresponds to people of foreign nationality who had been living there legally for less than three years and who had a residence permit for more than three months This goes to show how significant and sensitive the challenge of immigration is in the Brussels Region, in particular what happens afterwards, namely the integration of new immigrants in the host society. In Europe, a form of integration policy has become widespread, leading to a certain convergence: civic integration programmes [Jacobs & Rea, 2007; Mouritsen, 2008; Joppke, 2007, Carrera et al, 2009] They have different forms, they share common characteristics: they are intended for migrants and offer them (or require them to take) language, citizenship and shared values courses or professional training. The main objective of our article consists in carrying out a systematic review of the situation in Brussels and explaining the specificities
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