Italy and Greece: Between Individual Integration and Institutional Exclusion Dr. Anna Triandafyllidou ELIAMEP 31 May 2007

Greece and Italy differ in... Their size (geography and demography) Nature and strength of national identity Political organisation (centralised vs. Regional) Structure of the national economy (Italy has a strong industrial and SME sector while Greece has a weak service oriented economy)

But they are similar in... Their geographical position at the southern border of the EU Their geographical morphology that makes the control of border crossing particularly costly Lack of previous immigration receiving experience Large informal economies and internal structural imbalances in the domestic economy (rigid labour markets, lack of labour force in some sectors and excessive supply in others)

Which has led to: Repeated regularisations instead of any planned management of flows Delayed development of immigration and immigrant policies (but Italy started earlier than Greece!) Little competition between migrant workers and natives over jobs Persistence of irregular stay and work despite overall normalisation of the immigration phenomenon and the development of related policies for management of flows and integration

Immigrant participation in public life Main fields of civic activities Main groups that are civically active Relationship between participation in ethnic organisations vs activism in host society organisations Concluding remarks

Main fields of civic activities Italy Social and political activism Cultural associations IN Trade unions Local/regional elected consultative bodies Ethnic/immigrant associations Greece Providing information/advice Facilitating the acquisition of legal status Cultural/religious celebration IN Ethnic/immigrant associations Very limited participation in mainstream organisations

Main nationalities that are civically active Italy Albanians Nigerians Size of community does not seem to play a role Specific patterns of settlement, employment and education play a role Greece Filipinos Poles Overall experience of Communism is a negative factor Length of stay has an encouraging effect

Relationship between participation in immigrant and mainstream organisations Italy Catholic/voluntary civic participation is declining Immigration offers a new field of civic and political activism Activism in mainstream organisations builds social capital used to set up an ethnic association Natives and foreigners work together in civil society Greece Weak civil society, informal voluntary activism that is issue-related Separation of the public sphere: immigrants are excluded from mainstream organisations (trade unions and parties)

Concluding Remarks In Italy Integration of immigrants in mainstream organisations Pioneering role of some regions that allow immigrants to vote in local and regional elections But restrictive naturalisation policy More research is needed to evaluate the integration measures taken to date In Greece Immigrant activism develops against the odds: insecure legal status exclusion from mainstream organisations selective naturalisation policies Research should check the conditions and factors necessary to mainstream immigrant activism incl. the role of EU funding