The intensity of this principle varies with context. Depending on the right at stake, equality of treatment will be granted to refugees or asylum seekers, either with third country nationals or with nationals of the host country. This principle of equal treatment is the key to refugee integration and concerns many areas: work, education, freedom of movement …
Since the so-called “refugee crisis”, the EU and its Members States have been paying growing attention to the integration of beneficiaries of international protection. In the past two years, the focus of European Union initiatives in the field of integration has shifted from migrants in general to refugees. Additional funding has been allocated to refugee integration by the EU, especially to pursue national integration policies for refugees. It is striking, however, that the development of integration policies for beneficiaries of international protection seems to come with a restriction of the effectiveness of the principle of equality they benefit from. The decision of the European Court of Justice in the case Alo & Osso constitutes a shift in that regard. The present article analyses the most recent developments in refugee integration policies at the EU level, revealing an emerging paradox: expanded integration measures and policies for beneficiaries of international protection seem to provide them with less equality.
