Large scale and continuous immigration, and the projected need for immigrants, are perceived and appreciated very differently in Europe than they are in the United States. The consequences of this immigration and the ensuing integration questions now preoccupy the policymakers in several European Union (EU) Member States.

As a European state that started an explicit integration policy rather early, the Dutch experience illustrates vividly the extreme sensitivity of the themes of immigration and integration in Europe. Commentators question how the Netherlands, a country once known for its liberal integration policies, could have become the source of tough policies that ask immigrants to choose between integration and return? And how do the developments of Dutch policies fit in with developments at the local and national levels on the one hand and the EU-level on the other?

Speaker: Professor Rinus Penninx Director of the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies at the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, and European co-Chair of the Metropolis Project

Moderator: Dr. Demetrios G. Papademetriou, President, Migration Policy Institute

What: A Trans-Atlantic Briefing on Immigrant Integration Processes and Policy

Where: MPI Conference Room 1400 16th Street, NW, Suite 300 (third floor)

RSVP: Acceptances only to Fancy Sinantha at (202) 266-1929 or fsinantha@migrationpolicy.org

For directions to MPI, please click here

This briefing is a part of MPI's "Migration Policies and Processes in Europe" visitor series funded by the European Commission Delegation in Washington, D.C.