(L-R) Thomas Liebig, OECD; Yves Breem, OECD; Corinne Cahen, Minister of Family Affairs and Integration; Jacques Brosius, Integration Department of the Ministry of Family Affairs, Integration and the Greater Region; Credit: MFAMIGR

On Thursday 25 November 2021, experts from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) presented the results of a study on integration policies to Luxembourg's Minister of Family Affairs, Integration and the Greater Region, Corinne Cahen, amongst others.

The study was a part of review of the integration law of 16 December 2008 and aimed to rethink and redesign the policy of living together at the national level.

Minister Cahen commented: "It is all about learning from each other, whether from associations or municipalities, and about seeing what other countries are doing in terms of integration and living together. We want to learn from best practices and organise living together with all the actors. The OECD has already carried out studies in the field of integration in other countries, so it was the ideal partner for us to carry out this study and to give us recommendations on integration, with an objective and external view".

The OECD experts analysed, among other things, the employment service in Luxembourg, the integration policies as well as the coordination and cooperation of actors and the role of trilingualism.

The objectives of the OECD study were to:

  •  evaluate specific aspects of Luxembourg's integration policy;
  •  shed as much objective light as possible on the different dimensions of the current legal framework governing integration in Luxembourg;
  •  give a voice to the key actors in integration policy, making use of their expertise and field experience;
  •  analyse existing instruments in an international context, in particular through comparison;
  • formulate concrete policy recommendations for the revision of the 2008 law.

The OECD experts' main recommendations were as follows:

  • strengthen the learning of languages used in Luxembourg;
  • target the CAI integration contract and the PIA accompanied integration pathway to the most "vulnerable" immigrants, and even to cross-border workers;
  • improve the coordination of integration policies; 
  • regionalise at the municipal level;
  • develop school support programmes for immigrant children;
  • provide anti-discrimination training;
  • facilitate the secure sharing of integration data;
  • evaluate integration policies;
  • acknowledge good practices.