Country Report Italy - At a (Possible) Turning Point Between Constraining Tradition and Promising Developments in the Field of Diversity

The European approach to immigration is traditionally characterized by a sort of “schizophrenia”, generated by the attempt to keep together two contradictory philosophies: the “economicistic” philosophy on which the system of entry (and stay) is regulated and the philosophy of solidarity and equal opportunities. To overcome this paradox, three major changes are necessary: shifting from the perception of migrants as contingently instrumental resources to the conception of their human capital as a structural resource for the economic and social development of European societies by exploiting their skills, knowledges and competences (hereafter SKC); promoting a wider awareness, among different types of organizations (profit, non-profit and public), of the importance and potentialities of Diversity Management strategies; improving the social participation and the civic and voluntary engagement of Third Country Nationals (hereafter TCNs) in view of the construction of an inclusive European society and in order to change the common perception of immigrants as people needing to be helped and assisted. These three ambitions constitute the challenges addressed by the project DIVERSE – Diversity Improvement as a Viable Enrichment Resource for Society and Economy – supported by the European Commission through the European Integration Fund (Grant Agreement No. HOME/2012/EIFX/CA/CFP/4248 *30-CE-0586564/00-20). The project, implemented from January 2014 to May 2015, was directed by Laura Zanfrini, coordinated by the research centre WWELL – Work, Welfare, Enterprise, Lifelong Learning – of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Milan, and was carried out in 10 EU countries in cooperation with 13 other partners: Associazione Nazionale Oltre le Frontiere – ANOLF, Varese, Italy; Commission on Filipino Migrant Workers, The Netherlands; Fondazione ISMU, Italy; Karlshochschule International University, Germany; MENEDEK – Hungarian Association for Migrants, Hungary; Nova Universidade de Lisboa, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, Portugal; Radboud University, The Netherlands; Società San Vincenzo de Paoli, Federazione Regionale Lombarda, Italy; Umeå University, Sweden; University of Huelva, Spain; University of Lods, Poland; University of Tartu, Estonia; University of Vaasa, Finland. This volume presents the findings of the research activity carried out in Lombardy (Italy). The final report of the full project, including a synthesis of the ten national reports and of the transnational analysis, is published in the volume “The Diversity Value. How to Reinvent the European Approach to Immigration”, McGraw-Hill Education, Maidenhead, UK, 2015 (freely freely accessible at http://www.ateneonline.it/zanfrini/. A detailed presentation of the project, of its results and of the rich set of materials produced can be found in www.ismu.org/diverse. Both the present report and all the other texts produced reflect the view only of the Authors, and the European Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.