One in ten citizens of EU was born outside of the country they now live in. In other words, out of more than 50 million immigrants who inhabit EU, 35 million were born outside of Europe. In the last 15 years, the percentage of the migrants has risen by more than 30% and the issue of integration hit the top of the agenda of the European Commission and member states. Active participation of immigrants and their children in the education system, in labour market and just generally in social life is important for securing the social cohesion of the country as well as enabling the migrants to live in a new society as full, independent and successful members. On the level of the EU, documents were passed that manage refugee's flow, aid to refugees and integration policies, while on the national level certain number of EU member states have adopted mandatory programs for refugee integration, as a precondition for their stay in the respective country. Despite of these efforts, actual data show that in most countries, even after a few generations, the immigrants acquire a lower level of education, higher unemployment rate and usually hold worse jobs than similar natives. This thesis presented the process of migration and how EU developed its politics on social integration. Four countries (the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Denmark) and their politics of integration were studied and analysed in more detail.

Svaki deseti stanovnik EU je rođen izvan zemlje u kojoj trenutno živi, što znači da u EU stanuje više od 50 milijuna imigranata, od kojih je 35 milijuna rođeno izvan Europe. Zadnjih 15 godina udio je migrantskog stanovništva porastao za više od 30% i pitanje integracije je došlo na vrh dnevnog reda Europske komisije i država članica. Sudjelovanje imigranata i njihove djece u sustavu obrazovanja, na tržištu rada i općenito u društvenom životu bitno je za osiguravanje socijalne kohezije u zemlji, ali i za mogućnosti samih imigranata da u novom društvu žive kao punopravni, samostalni i uspješni članovi. Na europskoj su razini doneseni dokumenti koji se bave upravljanjem izbjegličkim tokovima, pomoći izbjeglicama i politikama integracije, dok je na nacionalnoj razini određeni broj članica uveo obvezne integracijske programe za imigrante kao uvjet za ostanak u zemlji. Unatoč tim naporima, aktualni podaci pokazuju da u većini država imigranti i nakon nekoliko generacija imaju niži stupanj obrazovanja, višu stopu nezaposlenosti i obavljaju lošije poslove. U radu je prikazano kako se odvijala migracija i razvijala integracijska politika u EU, te su izabrane četiri zemlje (Ujedinjeno Kraljevstvo, Njemačka, Italija i Danska) čije su politike integracije detaljnije analizirane.