INTRODUCTORY TEXT:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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It was decided after extensive thematic debates in the context of the European Migration Network that a large scale study about the impact of third country immigration into member states of the European Union should be produced as a first network-wide information-gathering activity. Nine national contact points participated in this endeavour. Studying such impacts is a new area of research, despite its importance as a background for academic and public debates on immigration, asylum, settlement, and integration.

Three main tasks were defined for the study. The capacities of the network for comparative research should have been evaluated. The state of knowledge in the countries under review should have been presented. The results were to contribute to widen the informational and data basis for political debates and decisions. Areas of study were the impact of immigration on the economies, the cultural contexts, and on the political structures. This was carried out through desk research and the presentation of country studies.

The Immigration Situation

Immigration is deeply rooted in European history. It is rather complex with regards to the types of and status of migrant groups. Immigration and the settlement of immigrants have been, until now, more or less understood as a separate history. In order to study the impact of immigration, the diversity of the phenomenon had to be taken into account, including as well the variety of immigrant groups in terms of time and migration cycles, of origin and place of settlements, and relative to social categories or attributes such as class, gender, age, etc.

The Economy

When considering the social impact of immigration, literature on the economies is widespread, however, even here, there are still various areas waiting for further investigation. In addition, the diversity of legal and organisational frameworks makes a comparison between European countries difficult. The economic transitions underway are influenced by immigration. This is the case in the labour markets, concerning job opportunities, unemployment, incomes, formal and informal activities, sectoral divisions, trade orientation, competition, as well as import and export. Immigration is changing the patterns and sizes of consumption. Immigrant small businesses and ethnic entrepreneuship are playing an increasing role. In recent years, an obvious impact of highly skilled immigrants has been notable.

The Civitas

Immigrants have had an impact on the cultural contexts in European societies in various ways. One obvious area concerns the changing food production and consumption patterns. Another area concerns sports. The impact becomes obvious when one looks at the activities of immigrants in amateur sport associations and clubs, but also when one analyses the impact of immigrants on the professional sports industry. A third area concerns fashion. Every day, cultural change takes place with regard to fashion, and immigration has greatly influenced the changes in the last decades. This can also be said in other areas of the civitas, most notably in the arts and media.

The Polity

Immigration clearly has an impact on the political discourse in European societies. As a prominent example, the political participation of immigrants has been debated in the context of awarding voting rights in most of the European countries under review. This includes creating institutions of participation, including parliamentary and advisory instruments for migrants. A wide variety of civil society institutions and migrant self-organisations have facilitated the political participation of immigrants as well. Systematic research is still lacking with regards to the political participation of immigrants in trade unions.

Conclusions

European societies have changed under the influences of immigration and migrant settlement. Various factors influence the impact of immigration on European societies. These are laws, regulations and political rights, access to the labour markets, welfare state regimes and provisions, health services, housing conditions, education and language politics, integration strategies and forms of exclusion and discrimination. The changes are obvious in every day life experiences, but comprehensive research is widely missing. The state of knowledge in the countries under review is uneven, and there is a hierarchy of available information with most data and analyses in the area of the economies. The effects on European societies has received less published attention than topics such as migration flows and settlements or on policies towards immigration populations. The capacities for comparative research of the network are promising, but there are still various problems to be solved with regards to the development of a common terminology, comparable numerical data, etc. The country studies allow a first insight into a rather new area of investigations in the fields of immigration, flight, asylum, settlement and integration.

Country Study from Austria, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, the United Kingdom.