Policy brief

OECD Economics Department Working Papers, 2013

JT03333322 Complete document available on OLIS in its original format This document and any map included herein are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area.

status: …

2013

A Council of Europe international youth policy review now takes some 18 months, not counting the intention to have a follow-up two years later. The first review, of Finland in 1997, took six months. That review was a venture (or adventure) into the dark. There was no model to follow. Gradually a process model has been established, but it is not cast in stone and is, almost every time, subject to revision for a variety of professional and pragmatic reasons. Initially, the early reviews built up a body of knowledge and understanding of "youth policy", though this was constructed on a somewhat ad hoc basis and disseminated solely through written (national and international) reports and through a presentation to the Joint Council of the Youth Department of the Council of Europe (the joint meeting of the European Steering Committee on Youth-the CDEJ-and the Advisory Council on Youth, representing youth organisations). There was no preliminary, preparatory visit. There was no identification of priority issues. There was no national hearing. There was no follow-up. After seven reviews, a clear framework for understanding and reviewing youth policy had emerged (see Williamson 2002): 1. A government was finally formed-after 535 days-at the end of November 2011. If you are a young person in contemporary Belgium, some levels of identity are, inevitably, going to be more important than others. What will certainly be significant, whether or not you know it, will be the fact that you are subject to policy attention and service delivery on matters that concern and affect you, from a complex range of sources and levels-European, Federal, Regional, Community and elsewhere. As an individual young person, you probably accept what you have, positively or grudgingly, and are largely unaware that young Belgians elsewhere in Belgium may have rather different "offers" directed towards them. But we, as an international team of outsiders looking in, are interested in both the existing offers available to young people and whether or not young people throughout Belgium have the same, or equivalent, access to support and opportunity. It does not take long to discover that structures, frameworks and institutional relationships are indeed complex but despite (and certainly not because of) the complexity, they usually appear to work. At least that is the repeated internal assertion-youth policy, in its different forms across the communities, is considered to be sensible, rational and unproblematic. Nevertheless, it is the role of an international review to raise questions, plant thoughts, and advance issues where it considers that youth policy is perhaps Regarding citizenship, there were the protests largely orchestrated by young people, where the message was that they wanted to live in this country and felt that politicians were putting too many barriers between the communities. Political figures are being taken to task by young people. Young people have a stronger European awareness than older generations: they are travelling across borders much more easily than province. Alongside Wallonia (made up of the French and German-speaking Communities) and Flanders (co-terminus with the Flemish Community), it is one of the three Regions of Belgium. Within the Brussels Region, both the French and Flemish Communities have their own "intermediary" institutions for administrative purposes. These sit below the Community level but above the municipal institutions. We were told that Brussels has four administrations: French and Flemish, French only and Flemish only: there is the Brussels-Capital Region, with its parliament and government responsible for matters of regional competence, and then there are the three Community institutions, the French Community Commission (CocoF), the Flemish Community Commission (VGC), and the Common Community Commission (Cocom). One respondent, when discussing Brussels, did acknowledge: It is really difficult ... the administrative structure in Brussels is really complicated, even for us! And at the moment it could actually be a bit easier because the Minister for Youth in the French Community is also a member of the government of the Brussels Region. But the issues are different between Wallonia and Brussels, especially because of the young population in Brussels [where between one third and two fifths are under the age of 30].

2018

International Migration Review, 2006

Country Report prepared for the European research project POLITIS, Oldenburg 2005, www.uni-oldenburg.de/politis-europe

2009

Brief history of migration to Belgium After the Second World War, Belgium signed several bilateral agreements in order to organise the recruitment of migrant workers for its coal mining sector first and later for other sectors. The first was concluded with Italy in 1946, followed by others with Spain and Greece in the 50s, Morocco, Turkey and Tunisia in the 60s and at the beginning of the 70s with Algeria, Yugoslavia and Portugal. So migrants came from these countries, but also from neighbouring countries like France and the Netherlands. In 1974, like other European countries, the Belgian government decided to halt the immigration of workers. However, data on immigration during the following decades show that, in spite of this decision, immigrants still arrived in Belgium. This happened particularly through six patterns of migration: mobility of EU citizens, asylum applications, foreign students' mobility, highly skilled workers' migration, irregular migration and, not least, family reunion (Gsir, Martiniello and Wets, 2003). In 2004, Belgium's foreign population was 8.3% of the total population. This is less than in the 90s, when it was around 9%. This figure did not include either foreigners residing irregularly in Belgium, or Belgians of foreign origin. So the immigrant population (including offspring) has grown. The foreign population is spread unequally around the country. In 2004, 26.3% were located in the Brussels-Capital Region, 9.1% in Wallonia and 4.8% in Flanders. In this last, the foreign population is especially concentrated in the provinces of Limbourg and Antwerp, while in Wallonia, it is concentrated mainly in the old industrial provinces of Liège and Hainaut (Martiniello and Rea, 2003). Most of the foreigners are EU nationals (66% at the end of 2004), mainly Italians, French, Dutch and Spaniards. The number of Poles is on the increase since 1990. The other foreigners widely represented are Moroccans (81,279) followed by Turks (39,885). But numbers have greatly diminished since the change of nationality law in 2000 which has facilitated access to Belgian nationality. Between 1990 and 2004, women represented less than 50% of the foreign population whereas they constitute around 51.3% of the Belgian population. Nevertheless, the distribution of women varies, for example, with a higher rate among Greek population (58% women) and the lowest (42.6%) in the Algerian population. The greatest number of foreigners are between the ages of 25 and 50 (Direction générale Emploi et marché du travail, 2006). National policy context Diversity policy at the federal level At the federal level, Belgium has progressively developed diversity policies and antidiscrimination policy, with the creation of a specialised body: the Centre for equal opportunities and opposition to racism or CEOOR is an autonomous federal public service created in 1993. It started by being in charge of monitoring of the policy of integrating immigrants but its mandate has been progressively extended. Indeed, in 2003, a law was adopted to combat all types of discrimination (Law of 25 February 2003 aiming at combating discrimination and modifying the Law of 15 February 1993 for the creation of the Centre for equal opportunities and opposition to racism, published in Belgian Monitor, 7/03/2003). According to this law, all types of direct or indirect discrimination are prohibited in access to work, selection, employment conditions, appointment and promotion. The centre aims to promote 'the equality of opportunities and to oppose any and all forms of distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on: 1) so-called race, skin colour, heritage, background or nationality: 2) sexual orientation, marital status, birth, fortune, age, creed or philosophy of life, current and future state of health, disability or physical trait' (http://www.diversite.be). The CEOOR website, for several years called http://www.antiracisme.be, has been renamed http://www.diversite.be. Finally, the Commission for Intercultural Dialogue, set up by the federal government in 2004, encouraged diversity plans at all levels of public administration.

2020

This document has been prepared for the European Commission however it reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (http://www.europa.eu).

The Demographic Characteristics of Immigrant …, 2002