In the European debate on migration, discussions often focus on quotas, relocations, and border controls. Yet one essential question remains largely ignored: how can we ensure that those who enter and stay in Europe truly share the values, duties, and rules of the European community?
Italy, through Article 4-bis of Legislative Decree 286/1998, introduced a mechanism that — although poorly implemented — represents an advanced foundation: the Integration Agreement between the State and the foreign national.
It is a simple yet revolutionary concept: integration as a bilateral obligation, based on concrete and verifiable commitments.
On one side, the foreign citizen undertakes to learn the national language, respect the Constitution, pay taxes, and guarantee compulsory education for their children.
On the other, the State ensures access to fundamental rights, civic training, and public services, supporting real participation in society.
In essence, it is a temporary pact of citizenship, where the right to stay depends on the duty to integrate — a principle that the European Union should now adopt, turning the Italian model into a European Integration Agreement.
1. A mechanism for shared responsibility
The Italian model operates through a credit system, where credits are gained through linguistic, educational, and social progress and deducted in cases of criminal convictions or civic non-compliance.
Applied on a European scale, this mechanism could become a tool for common monitoring of integration standards across the 27 Member States, overcoming the current fragmentation of national approaches.
A foreign national moving within the EU could maintain and transfer their integration credits, allowing transparent and traceable progress throughout the Union.
2. Coherence with the new European Pact on Migration and Asylum
The New EU Pact on Migration and Asylum focuses mainly on border management and return procedures but remains weak on integration after entry.
A European Integration Agreement would fill this gap within the framework of Article 79 TFEU, which empowers the EU to define common conditions for entry and residence of third-country nationals.
Through a regulation or directive, the Union could establish minimum integration standards based on:
- knowledge of the host country’s language and civic culture;
- respect for the fundamental values of the Union (Article 2 TEU);
- active participation in social and economic life;
- measurable and periodic assessments of progress.
3. From integration to ReImmigration: a European principle of reciprocity
If integration is a pact, it must also have consequences in case of non-compliance.
Under the paradigm promoted by Reimmigrazione, failure of integration leads to ReImmigration — the return to the country of origin or relocation to another safe country willing to receive the individual.
Applied at EU level, this principle would make long-term residence a result, not a presumption.
It is not punitive but coherent: integration is not declared, it is demonstrated.
A shared European framework would finally connect rights with responsibilities, ensuring that residence is granted to those who truly belong to the community of values that defines Europe.
4. A model that strengthens European identity
A European Integration Agreement would not erase national traditions.
Rather, it would reaffirm that European identity is built on shared principles — freedom, equality, solidarity, and the rule of law.
Each Member State would maintain its cultural and administrative particularities, while operating within a common structure of civic responsibility.
A foreign national living in Europe must know that they enter not only a geographical area but a community of rights and rules: the freedom to stay entails the duty to integrate.
Conclusion
Italy already has a normative model that, if fully implemented and modernized, could become the cornerstone of a European policy of responsible integration.
Europe needs a common vision that unites hospitality with accountability, solidarity with reciprocity.
It is not enough to manage migration flows — the Union must govern belonging.
The first step could be this: transforming the Italian Integration Agreement into a European Integration and ReImmigration Agreement.
Avv. Fabio Loscerbo
Lawyer specialized in Immigration Law and registered lobbyist in the EU Transparency Register (ID: 280782895721-36) – Field: Migration and Asylum Policy
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