Competing frames of immigrant integration in the EU: geographies of social inclusion in Italian regions

After the federal reform of 2001, Italian regions have gained greater autonomy in matters of social policy, including immigrant integration. In this paper, we assess frames of immigrant integration in eight Italian regions, i.e. Piedmont, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna in the North, Umbria, Marche and Abruzzi in the Centre, Basilicata and Calabria in the South, against the EU equal treatment and mobility rights-based regime. Through a diachronic analysis of the regions' official documents on immigrants' integration approved in the period 2000–2010, we shall consider: (1) the policy priorities identified and the measures funded and (2) the implementation structures. The analysis points out how the frames of immigrant integration emerging at a regional level shape different geographies of social inclusion which are sometimes openly in contradiction with the EU discourse on equal treatment and mobility rights. Immigration is perceived more as an economic asset for local labour markets' unsatisfied demand for low-qualified, flexible, and often informal workers, rather than as a strategic resource for the realisation of a competitive and knowledge-based European economy.