The multi-level governance of CEE migration in the Netherlands.

Migration from Central and Eastern-Europe has posed a new challenge to various West-European countries. In contrast to this European perspective on CEE migration as intra-European mobility of EU citizens, especially at the local level the presence of CEE migrants does seem to raise many issues of incorporation. Moreover, the context in which governments can develop policies aimed at some form of incorporation of CEE migrants differs fundamentally from that for integration policies for Third-Country Nationals. Within the multi-level structure of the European Union, many measures for migrant integration cannot be applied to CEE migrants. This means that countries and in many cases cities, municipalities and regions have to find alternative ways for addressing the social consequences of the presence of CEE migrants.

This article addresses how Dutch national and local governments have developed policies on the incorporation of CEE migrants in the multi-level setting of the European Union. It focuses on what social consequences of CEE migration local and national governments are faced with and how policies developed at the local, national and European level interact and interrelate. The Dutch case discussed in this article represents one of the cases where the presence of CEE migrants has emerged prominently on the national and local policy agenda. Within the Dutch case, we focus on the national level as well as on two municipalities, one representing a large city that houses many CEE migrants (Rotterdam) and one a rural municipality that employs many CEE migrants (Westland). Selecting the Dutch case and selecting two different local governments within the Netherlands promotes the opportunities for studying the interaction between local, national and European governments on the issue of CEE migrants.