Civic Integration of Immigrants. A Challenge to Proportionality and Non-discrimination in the Common European Immigration Policy?

Introduction Within the last decade, European migration law has undergone significant changes, starting with the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1999 and cumulating in the 2009 Lisbon Treaty. Title IV of the Amsterdam Treaty for the first time established (shared) Community competence to legislate on migration law. Ten years later, several aspects surrounding the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals (TCNs) are regulated at the European Union (EU) level. Yet, for a long time, the extent to which the Union has competence to legislate in the domain of integration of TCNs was a matter of debate between the European Commission and the Member States. The Lisbon Treaty has put a (formal) end to this ongoing discussion by introducing an explicit legal basis for the adoption of legal measures supportingMember States’ integration policies.