The author analyzes and criticizes the current assimilationist and exclusivist approach to migrants’ integration, which characterizes the Italian legal system as well as that of many European countries. Specifically, using as a litmus test of this approach the Integration Agreement regulated by art. 4-bis TUI, the study reflects on the limits (practical and legal) of a system that conceives integration as an obligation whose fulfillment is to be guaranteed through the threat of negative consequences, such as repatriation or rights denial. A different model is therefore proposed, in which integration is the result of the voluntary efforts of the migrants, adequately supported and stimulated by public authorities through the provision of ad hoc services and incentives. The research ends, then, with a broader reflection on the economic feasibility of the proposed model, aiming at supporting a change of perspective with respect to the widespread beliefs that portray the migration phenomenon only as an added problem for the host societies and not as a source of possible solutions.

 

(by Luca Galli)