Derde Europese ministeriële conferentie over het immigratie- en asielbeleid (en)

The Vichy conference discussions will also build up on the draft European Pact on Immigration and Asylum presented by the French Presidency. The draft European Pact on Immigration and Asylum already contains important commitments concerning integration, and is scheduled for adoption by the European Council on 15 and 16 October 2008.

The EU integration ministers met for the first time in November 2004 in Groningen, under the Dutch Presidency. Their work led to the Justice and Home Affairs Council (JHA) adopting basic common principles on integration on 19 November 2004. The Potsdam conference, held under the German Presidency in May 2007, consolidated the achievements of Groningen and added a new dimension by initiating reflection on intercultural dialogue as a tool for reinforcing integration

France intends for the Vichy conference to follow on from the Groningen and Potsdam conferences and studies conducted by the European Commission with the support of the network of national contact points on integration, composed of experts appointed by each Member State.

In an area within the compentence of each Member State, France would like to further harmonise ideas and practices within the EU with regard to the following subjects: the promotion of EU values, the integration process, access to employment and diversity within employment, the integration of women, intercultural dialogue and the governance of integration policies. These topics, which were first discussed by the 27 Member States at a meeting of experts in Paris on 15 September, will form the outline of a draft statement to be examined in Vichy. France would like this draft, as discussed by the ministers in Vichy, to serve as a basis for the conclusions to be adopted by JHA Council on 27 and 28 November next and to help advance the common agenda for integration policies in Europe.

Brice Hortefeux, the French Minister for Immigration, Integration, National Identity and Mutually-Supportive Development, will give the opening address at the Vichy conference. This will be followed by addresses from Fadela Amara, the French Minister of State for Urban Policies, and Jacques Barrot, Vice-President of the European Commission. The conference will first review the work undertaken since the Potsdam conference by the European Commission and by Germany, which will present the results of the work carried out on intercultural dialogue, before examining the draft statement proposed by France.