Over the last few years, and particularly since 2014, the EU has received unprecedented numbers of migrants and asylum-seekers, often in an unorderly way, which has led to a growing presence of migrants and refugees in scarcely prepared small and medium-sized towns and rural areas. Building upon some of the critical findings of the Whole-COMM Project, in this presentation, I aim to answer the main research question of the project, namely: how do the various actors whose actions affect local communities decide, implement and act upon local policies related to the integration of post-2014 migrants in small and medium-sized towns and rural areas? After a brief overview of Whole-COMM case selection and methodology, I will illustrate the project’s critical findings concerning local inclusion policies, frames held by actors involved in integration governance, governance relations, and migrants’ access to services. The main goal will be to identify the main obstacles that our research suggests can prevent the emergence of more robust and inclusive responses to migrant integration in small and medium-sized towns and rural areas.

Whole-COMM: whole-comm.eu