Credits: UNHCR/Caroline Irby

Very often, TVs and newspapers deal with asylum and migration as something that relates to the highly political spheres, such as national parliaments, governments and EU institutions. No doubt politicians at the European and national levels have the greatest say in the shaping of asylum and migration policies yet, for many other sectors, their implementation can vary significantly according to local actors’ political vision, infrastructures, local public opinion and so on.

Greater attention has lately been paid to local management of asylum seekers’ reception around Europe, as proven by the focus of the brand new publication “From Europe to local: Migrating solidarity”, born from a collaboration between the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) and SOLIDAR. The aim of the volume is to underline “the positive and constructive role that local actors, both public and private, can and should play in order to enhance the process of integration of immigrants in the receiving societies”.

The book is divided into three main parts: the first chapter focuses on the institutional framework of migrants’ integration throughout Europe, while the second part rather gathers contributions about the relationship between civil society actors and local authorities; finally, the third section offers some new EU-level political perspectives on the issue of migrants’ integration in the European host societies.

The first part includes articles signed by Markéta Seidlová, Daniel Riemer, Tina Alike, Nadine Seddig and Stephanie Warkentin, and Andrea Romano and Davide Sardo, which tackle the wide range of discrepancies that exist between regulations and the implementation of integration and reception laws in the European Member States. The second section deals with different aspects of the relations between civil society organizations – who are devoted to helping and integrating asylum seekers – and local authorities, with contributions from Enza Roberta Petrillo, Venere Stefania Sanna, Piotr Plewa, Nevena Gojkovic Turunz, Claudia Marà, Mirta Soverini and Miriam Salussolia. The Members of the European Parliament Brando Benifei e Tanja Fajon close the publication with two pieces on the fragmentation of the EU in addressing the asylum crisis and the potential integration of refugees in the EU labour market.

Like most Feps and SOLIDAR publications, the book is free and can be downloaded through this link.