Council Decision of 25 June 2007 establishing the European Fund for the Integration of third-country nationals for the period 2007 to 2013 as part of the General programme ‘Solidarity and Management of Migration Flows’ (2007/435/EC) (repealed)

CHAPTER I U.K. SUBJECT MATTER, OBJECTIVES AND ACTIONS

Article 1 U.K. Subject matter and scope

1. This Decision establishes for the period from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2013 the European Fund for integration of third-country nationals (hereinafter referred to as the Fund), as part of a coherent framework which also includes Decision No 573/2007/EC, Decision No 574/2007/EC and Decision No 575/2007/EC, in order to contribute to the strengthening of the area of freedom, security and justice and the application of the principle of solidarity between the Member States.

This Decision defines the objectives to which the Fund contributes, its implementation, the available financial resources and the distribution criteria for the allocation of the available financial resources.

It establishes the Fund's management rules, including financial rules, as well as monitoring and control mechanisms based on the sharing of responsibilities between the Commission and the Member States.

2. Third-country nationals who are on the territory of a third country and who are complying with specific pre-departure measures and/or conditions set out in national law, including those relating to the ability to integrate in the society of this Member State fall under the scope of this Decision.

3. Third-country nationals who have applied for asylum in respect of which a final decision has not yet been taken, or enjoy refugee or subsidiary protection status, or qualify as refugees or are eligible for subsidiary protection in accordance with Council Directive 2004/83/EC of 29 April 2004 on minimum standards for the qualification and status of third-country nationals or stateless persons as refugees or as persons who otherwise need international protection and the content of the protection granted(1), shall be excluded from the scope of this Decision.

4. Third-country national means any person who is not a citizen of the Union within the meaning of Article 17(1) of the Treaty.

Article 2 U.K. General objective of the Fund

1. The general objective of the Fund is to support the efforts made by the Member States in enabling third-country nationals of different economic, social, cultural, religious, linguistic and ethnic backgrounds to fulfil the conditions of residence and to facilitate their integration into the European societies.

The Fund shall primarily focus on actions relating to the integration of newly arrived third-country nationals.

2. In order to further the objective mentioned in paragraph 1 the Fund shall contribute to the development and implementation of national integration strategies for third-country nationals in all aspects of society in particular taking into account the principle that integration is a two-way dynamic process of mutual accommodation by all immigrants and residents of Member States.

3. The Fund shall contribute to the financing of the technical assistance at the initiative of the Member States or the Commission.

Article 3 U.K. Specific objectives

The Fund shall contribute to the following specific objectives:

(a)

facilitation of the development and implementation of admission procedures relevant to and supportive of the integration process of third-country nationals;

(b)

development and implementation of the integration process of newly-arrived third-country nationals in Member States;

(c)

increasing of the capacity of Member States to develop, implement, monitor and evaluate policies and measures for the integration of third-country nationals;

(d)

exchange of information, best practices and cooperation in and between Member States in developing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating policies and measures for the integration of third-country nationals.

Article 4 U.K. Eligible actions in the Member States

1. As regards the objective defined in Article 3(a), the Fund shall support actions in Member States which:

(a) facilitate the development and implementation by Member States of admission procedures, inter alia by supporting consultation processes with relevant stakeholders and expert advice or information exchanges on approaches which target specific nationalities or categories of third-country nationals;

(b) render the implementation of admission procedures more effective and accessible to third-country nationals, inter alia by using user-friendly Communication and Information Technology, information campaigns and selection procedures;

(c) prepare third-country nationals for their integration into host society in a better way by supporting pre-travel measures which enable them to acquire knowledge and skills necessary for their integration, such as vocational training, information packages, comprehensive civic orientation courses and language tuition in the country of origin.

2. As regards the objective defined in Article 3(b), the Fund shall support actions in Member States which:

(a) set up programmes and activities aiming at introducing newly arrived third-country nationals to the host society and enabling them to acquire basic knowledge about the host society's language, history, institutions, socio economic features, cultural life and the fundamental norms and values, as well as complement such existing programmes and activities;

(b) develop and improve the quality of such programmes and activities at local and regional level, with a particular emphasis on civic orientation;

(c) reinforce the capacity of such programmes and activities to reach out to particular groups, such as dependants of persons subject to admission procedures, children, women, elderly, illiterate or persons with disabilities;

(d) increase the flexibility of such programmes and activities, in particular through part time courses, fast track modules, distance or E-learning systems or similar models, enabling third-country nationals to complete the programmes and activities while at the same time working or studying;

(e) develop and implement such programmes or activities, targeted at young third-country nationals, with specific social and cultural challenges related to identity issues;

(f) develop such programmes or activities encouraging the admission and supporting the integration process of highly qualified and qualified third-country nationals.

3. As regards the objectives defined in Article 3(c) and (d), the Fund shall support actions in and between Member States which:

(a) improve the access of third-country nationals to public and private goods and services, inter alia by intermediary services, interpretation and translation services and by improving the staff's intercultural capacities;

(b) build sustainable organisational structures for integration and diversity management, promote durable and sustainable participation in civil and cultural life, and develop modes of cooperation between different relevant stakeholders enabling officials at various levels to swiftly gain information about experiences and practices elsewhere and, where possible, to pool resources;

(c) develop and implement intercultural training, capacity building and diversity management, training of staff within public and private service providers, including educational institutions;

(d) reinforce the capacity to coordinate, implement, monitor and evaluate national integration strategies for third-country nationals across the different levels and departments of government;

(e) contribute to the evaluation of admission procedures or the programmes and activities referred to in paragraph 2 by supporting representative surveys among third-country nationals having benefited from them and/or among relevant stakeholders, such as enterprises, non-governmental organisations and regional or local authorities;

(f) introduce and implement schemes to gather and analyse information about the needs of different categories of third-country nationals at local or regional level by involving platforms for consultation of third-country nationals and for exchange of information between stakeholders and by conducting surveys among immigrant communities on how best to respond to those needs;

(g) contribute to the two-way process underlying integration policies by developing platforms for consultation of third-country nationals, exchange of information between stake holders and intercultural, inter-faith and religious dialogue platforms between communities and/or between communities and policy and decision-making authorities;

(h) develop indicators and benchmarking for measuring progress at national level;

(i) develop high quality monitoring tools and evaluation schemes for integration policies and measures;

(j) increase the acceptance of migration in host societies as well as the acceptance of integration measures through awareness-raising campaigns, particularly in the media.

Article 5 U.K. Community actions

1. At the Commission's initiative, up to 7 % of the Fund's available resources may be used to finance transnational actions or actions of interest to the Community as a whole (hereinafter referred to as Community actions) concerning immigration and integration policy.

2. To be eligible for funding, Community actions shall in particular:

(a) further Community cooperation in implementing Community law and good practices in the field of immigration and implementing good practices in the field of integration;

(b) support the setting-up of transnational cooperation networks and pilot projects based on transnational partnerships between bodies from two or more Member States designed to stimulate innovation, facilitate exchanges of experience and good practice and improve the quality of integration policies;

(c) support transnational awareness-raising campaigns;

(d) support studies, dissemination and exchange of information on best practices and all other aspects of immigration and integration policies, including for the use of state of the art technology;

(e) support pilot projects and studies exploring the possibility of new forms of Community cooperation in the field of immigration and integration and Community law in the field of immigration;

(f) support the development and application by Member States of common statistical tools, methods and indicators for measuring policy developments in the fields of immigration and integration.

3. The annual work programme laying down the priorities for Community actions shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 52(2).

(1)

OJ L 304, 30.9.2004, p. 12.