IMIS-BEITRÄGE Heft 43/2013

IMIS-BEITRÄGE Heft 43/2013 Herausgeber: Vorstand des Instituts für Migrationsforschung und Interkulturelle Studien (IMIS) der Universität Osnabrück Geschäftsführend: Jochen Oltmer Wissenschaftlicher Beirat: Leo Lucassen, Werner Schiffauer, Thomas Straubhaar, Dietrich Thränhardt, Andreas Wimmer Redaktion: Jutta Tiemeyer Institut für Migrationsforschung und Interkulturelle Studien (IMIS) Universität Osnabrück D-49069 Osnabrück Tel.: ++49 (0)541 969 4384 Fax: ++49 (0)541 969 4380 E-Mail: [email protected] Internet: http://www.imis.uni-osnabrueck.de Gefördert durch die Robert Bosch Stiftung Eingesandte Manuskripte prüfen vom Wissenschaftlichen Beirat und vom Vorstand des IMIS benannte Gutachter August 2013 Herstellung: STEINBACHER DRUCK GmbH, Osnabrück ISBN 978-3-9803401-3-7 ISSN 0949-4723 SPECIAL ISSUE Immigration and Federalism in Europe Federal, State and Local Regulatory Competencies in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain and Switzerland edited by Dietrich Thränhardt Contents Preface ..................................................................................... 6 Dietrich Thränhardt Immigration and Integration in European Federal Countries: A Comparative Evaluation............................................................. 7 Kai Leptien Austria: A Centralistic Federation ...................................................21 Amanda Klekowski von Koppenfels Belgium: A Nation Diverging.........................................................27 Kai Leptien Germany’s Unitary Federalism.......................................................39 Claudia Finotelli Italy: Regional Dynamics and Centralistic Traditions............................49 Marina Egger Russia: From Autonomy to ›Vertical Democracy‹ ................................65 Claudia Finotelli Spain: Multilevel Immigration and Integration Governance....................83 Kai Leptien Switzerland: Decentralisation and the Power of the People.....................99 The Authors............................................................................ 109 5 Preface This study provides detailed systematic information about federal, state, and local regulative responsibilities in the fields of immigration, recruitment, regulation of temporary and permanent residence, asylum, amnesties and regulations of illegal immigrants, naturalisation, integration and language programmes, social housing for foreigners/immigrants, local voting rights, schooling, employment and unemployment benefits, and the acknowledge- ment of qualifications in the seven federal countries in Europe. The study covers Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Russia, Switzer- land, and Spain. The comparison demonstrates the tremendous varieties in the divisions of powers between the federations, the member states and local communities in the seven countries, and thus opens pathways for further comparative studies to be done. The extremely decentralised situation in Switzerland with its local referenda on naturalisation, Belgium’s dualistic system in Flanders and Wallonia, Germany’s ›unitarian federalism‹, Austria’s limited federalism, the emerging powers of the Comunidades Autónomas in Spain, Italy’s recent decentralisation experience and Russia’s ›vertical democracy‹ with its dominant central power are described in detail. The comparison shows diverging tendencies towards more centralisation or more decentralisation. Some countries enjoy stable regimes, some are happy with more and more regionalisation. Some have symmetrical and some others asym- metrical decentralisation regimes. We thank the Forum of Federations for its initiative that encouraged us to focus on a rigorous institutional comparison between countries, and on analysing the differences between the seven countries systematically. Immi- gration will continue to be a challenge for federal as well as centralistic systems, bringing its various parts and partners to integrate newcomers, to rethink the understanding of the identities of their communities and cultures, and to readapt again and again in the ever-changing global transformations in local, state and federal environments. Dietrich Thränhardt 6 Dietrich Thränhardt Immigration and Integration in European Federal Countries: A Comparative Evaluation 1 Immigration in Federal Systems: Challenges and Assets Research on federalism and research on immigration have long been isolated from each other, as often happens between specialised sub-disciplines. Only a few books have been published about migration in federal systems (Thrän- hardt 2001; Joppke/Seidle 2012). Specialists on federalism have focussed on institutional arrangements, power relations, historical pathways, existing traditions and the relations between the federation and the member states. Immigration research was concerned with assimilation and integration proc- esses, migration streams, naturalisation and populist, xenophobic and extre- mist reactions and movements. As migrations of various sorts and easy internal EU mobility are becoming permanent, and immigrants constitute a growing percentage of the population, migration influences the polity, the politics and the policies of federal countries (Thränhardt 1996). On the other hand, immigrants’ access, integration, socialisation, status in society and acceptance is shaped by federal structures. Immigrants are naturalised as citizens of Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain or Switzerland, but they are socialised as Viennese or Tyrolians, Walloons or Flemish, Bavarians or Hamburgers, Venetians or Sicilians, Madrileños or Catalans, Génévois or Zürcher, and the like. How do federal systems deal with these new challenges? How do they include these new strata and characteristics into the existing formal and men- tal order? Federal political systems bring regional diversity to life, whereas centralist systems hide regional differences in culture, language, religion, economic interest and dynamics, social values and mentality under the veil of the nation ›une et indivisible‹. Federal systems allow them to play out and come into the open, and make regional identities as legitimate as national identities. In addition to traditional diversities, immigration adds more ele- ments of diversity and more pluralism. 7 Dietrich Thränhardt One hypothesis is that political systems with inbuilt legitimate difference can easier digest new and additional differences. In this line of thinking, more difference would not be conceived as a threat because difference is already legitimate. Moreover, regions and sub-states can welcome immigrants because of cultural similarities or as a chance to strengthen the place, economically or demographically. On the other hand, newcomers can be conceived as a danger to delicate balances in federal systems, or as a threat to particular local or regional cultures and settings, like in French-speaking Quebec in Anglo-dominated North America. Thus the most prolific regions of Spain construct their integration policies quite differently: Catalonia tries to assimilate immigrants into the Catalan ›nation‹ and particularly the Cata- lan language, whereas the Basque government has not developed a clear policy towards non-Spanish immigrants and the situation is largely defined in antagonistic political terms (Larroque Aranguren 2012). A third possibility is that political entrepreneurs construct national unity at the cost of new out- siders, making people forget about regional difference and point to foreigners as a danger. A further hypothesis is about the diffusion of settlements, prob- lems and solutions, in contrast to the concentration of immigrant settlement and antagonisms that we find in centralistic countries, like the French ban- lieues, the Dutch Randstad or the inner city of London. We can find examples for all of these approaches: Switzerland is the country with the highest immigration numbers in Europe, calculated per capita of the native population, and it is most efficient in putting migrants into work. At the same time, it experienced waves of xenophobia from time to time over the last hundred years, not connected to any internal linguistic or other regional tensions, and strengthening Swiss nationalism. In Belgium, on the other hand, xenophobia is connected to the Flemish-Walloon cleavage, as Flemish politicians fear Francophonisation through immigration. In Italy anti-immigration agitation has been brought forward particularly by the regional Lega Nord, which in former decades had blamed Southern ›terroni‹. In Canada, Quebec obtained the right to implement its own immigration policy, trying to recruit French speakers. In the US, immigration is a critical element in the relation between the states and the federal government, with some states blaming Washington for not controlling the border and putting financial burdens on them. In Germany, the Länder followed different integration philosophies and policies, until the Grand Coalition formulated a consensus about integration. In Austria, the capital Vienna, Austria’s immigration hub, implements its own integration policy, and for many years had a much higher naturalisation rate than the rest of the country. 8 Immigration and Integration in European Federal Countries 2 Two European Ramifications: The Council of Europe and the EU: European Communalities and Specifities One commonality among European federal systems are the legal bonds that bind them together and structure their behaviour. First, all European states have signed the European Convention on Human Rights and

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