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the period 2007 to 2013 as part of the General programme ‘Solidarity and Management of Migration Flows’ (2007/435/EC) (repealed)

Article 4 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.