Immigration Sweden and Portugal best at integrating foreigners; Latvia and Austria worst

[Maciamo]

VRT : Integration policy lauded

An international study ranks Belgium in third place after Sweden and Portugal when it comes to government efforts to integrate foreigners.
Researchers have looked at the situation in 28 countries and examined 6 different issues.

These include access to the labour market, involvement in politics, family reunification, the possibility of a long stay in the country, acquiring nationality and antidiscrimination.

The report gave Belgium 69 points. This puts Belgium in third place after Sweden (88 points) and Portugal (79 points).

Austria (39 points) and Latvia (30 points) fared worst in this European survey.

Pretty ironic that Belgium should rank so high considering that it has some of the least well integrated immigrants in all Europe, and Belgians have voted the most massively for anti-immigration parties (12% for Vlaams Belang alone) in any EU country.

But the survey is about "foreigners" not just immigrants. And expats in Belgium (notably EU and NATO workers) cannot complain.

This goes to show that with an equal government policy, foreigners from different countries adapt a whole lot differently to their host country.

The fact that high unemployment and self-imposed ghettos are so common among Third-World immigrants (mostly from Africa), even for the 2nd or 3rd generations, is an undeniable proof that government policies alone are worthless if the immigrants themselves do not make an effort.