Beyond Remigration: the Italian paradigm of Integration or ReImmigration for governing migration

The current European debate on migration is increasingly polarized around radical solutions, including what is often referred to as “remigration.” In some political contexts, this concept is presented as a necessary corrective to the perceived failures of existing migration policies. Yet, while it captures a real and growing social concern, it does not fully address the root of the problem.

The issue is not simply about reducing or reversing migration flows. The real issue is that the current system—both in Italy and across Europe—is no longer structurally capable of managing migration in a stable and sustainable way.

At the core of this failure lies a theoretical assumption that has shaped migration policies for decades: an essentially economic view of migration. Migrants have been treated primarily as labor units, as a response to demographic decline, or as instruments to sustain economic growth. Within this framework, integration has been treated as secondary—often assumed to occur automatically through employment.

This assumption has proven to be fundamentally flawed.

Reducing migration to an economic variable has meant overlooking its deeper legal, social, and cultural dimensions. Work alone does not create integration. More importantly, this approach has prevented the development of a coherent legal framework capable of governing long-term presence within society.

The consequences are now evident.

The tensions emerging across European societies are not primarily caused by migration flows themselves, but by the failure to govern integration effectively. The most critical issue concerns second-generation migrants: individuals who are formally part of European societies, yet often lack real cultural, linguistic, and normative integration. This is where the deepest fracture lies.

The fundamental mistake of the current approach has been to treat integration as a spontaneous process. But integration is not automatic. It is not a natural outcome. It is a legal, social, and political objective that requires clear rules, measurable criteria, and consequences when those criteria are not met.

It is from this awareness that the paradigm of “Integration or ReImmigration” emerges.

This is not a slogan. It is a structural proposal. A paradigm based on a simple principle: the right to remain in a country cannot be detached from the duty to integrate into it. Integration becomes the central selective criterion of the system.

This approach is rooted in an Italian and European legal tradition and must be clearly distinguished from the concept of remigration.

The difference is not merely semantic—it is structural.

Remigration, as developed in certain strands of the German political debate, is primarily based on an expulsive logic. It tends to question the permanence even of individuals who are formally regular or integrated. Such an approach risks conflicting with fundamental principles of European legal systems and may lead to indiscriminate outcomes, detached from individual assessments.

The paradigm of Integration or ReImmigration, by contrast, operates on an entirely different basis.

It does not question the presence of migrants as such. Instead, it conditions their permanence on an objective and verifiable parameter: the level of integration achieved. It is not an expulsive model, but a selective one. It is not ideological, but functional.

Within this framework, ReImmigration is simply the consequence of a failure to meet minimum integration standards. It is not a general measure, but an individualized outcome. It is not a rupture with the legal system, but its coherent evolution.

The crucial issue, therefore, is not the theoretical definition of the paradigm, but its practical implementation.

This is where law must evolve.

The first area of intervention concerns complementary protection. Today, it is largely a residual and fragmented tool. Yet, particularly within the Italian legal framework, it already contains key elements that can support an integration-based system.

A decisive step is needed: transforming complementary protection from an exceptional measure into a general regulatory model of residence. This means recognizing integration—through social, professional, and family ties—as the primary legal criterion for granting and maintaining the right to stay.

In other words, complementary protection should become the legal instrument through which integration is formally recognized.

The second area concerns the integration agreement. Currently treated as a formal requirement, it must be restructured into a genuine legal contract of integration, with clear obligations, measurable indicators, and effective monitoring mechanisms.

Language proficiency, employment, and respect for legal norms cannot remain abstract principles. They must become concrete, verifiable conditions, subject to periodic evaluation.

Integration must be assessed—not presumed.

The third area concerns enforcement.

Without an effective return system, any migration paradigm remains purely theoretical. This requires the creation of a dedicated immigration police force, equipped with specific competencies and coordinated at both national and European levels, as well as a structural strengthening of return detention centers.

There is no point in avoiding the issue: without enforcement capacity, the law loses credibility.

The paradigm of Integration or ReImmigration is therefore based on a clear balance: inclusion for those who integrate, return for those who do not.

There are no shortcuts.

Ultimately, this is not an ideological proposal, but an attempt to restore coherence to a system that currently risks generating the very tensions it is supposed to manage.

The real choice is not between openness and closure. It is between a disordered system and a regulated one.

And today, more than ever, ambiguity is no longer sustainable.

Avv. Fabio Loscerbo
Lawyer – Registered EU Transparency Register (ID 280782895721-36)
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-7030-0428