At the start of this century, the need arose within the European Union to incorporate the integration of third-country nationals into the political agenda as a central pillar of EU migration policy. This study is based on the concept that while EU institutions are allowed to establish broad policy lines and, to a certain extent, influence member state strategies, integration policy is an eminently national responsibility, causing significant differences to exist between member-state practices. This work will examine the main EU actions related to active or civic integration with the aim of comparing the results of integration policies on European and national levels through the analysis of legislation and other legal instruments established by both the EU and Spain. This study seeks to discover a paradigmatic model that the European Commission has not yet considered since its work in this area is in an initial phase. The characteristics of the Spanish model—where immigration was quite welcome during economic boom times but where integration policies are being gradually implemented in the middle of and economic crisis far removed from those times—are key to explaining the conclusions reached in this study.
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