AER hosted its October Breakfast Briefing at the kind invitation of the Regional Representation of Lazio, on 21 October 2008. The participants engaged in a discussion on the social dimension of integrating migrants.

Immigration is recognised as a key issue on EU level with a clear impact on European societies and the economy. The positive results of migration are widely understood as migrants contribute to the economic development of member states as tax payers and consumer, not to mention that they help to alleviate demographic decline and labour shortages. But migration is not without its challenges as migrants often face difficulties with regard to unemployment or poverty. In many countries the social dimension is futher aggravated with discrimination and exclusion.

AER relied on the expertise of two keynote speakers to cover the issue at hand.

Mr. Jérome VIGNON from DG Employment of the European Commission addressed the employment perspective of integrating migrants and related the existing programmes for implementing measures to better integrate migrants in European societies.
Mr Vignon not only outlined the social dimension of integrating migrants but also described a number of indicators to measure the efficiency of integration projects. He also highlighted the growing awareness of the indispensable role of regional and local authorities for a successful integration process.

His intervention was followed by Ms Raffaella Papes from Regione Veneto who presented their collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on migration and development.