Open Access

Kerstin Rosenow

• This article analyses the development of integration policies concerning third country nationals at the European level. Starting with the discovery of recent policy developments at the EU level, including new directives granting social rights to non EU citizens, the paper proceeds to examine the reasons that enabled this shift from the national to the European level of decision making. It concludes that integration policies have been created as a new EU policy field amidst the also fairly new policy field of immigration policies. In light of the theoretical concept of „organisational fields” the interests and motives of the main actors involved are analysed, resulting in the following conclusions: First, a European integration policy could only be established within the emerging field of immigration policies. Secondly, the European Parliament, the Council of Europe, several nongovernmental organisations and most notably the European Commission played an important role in promoting integration policies at the European level. Thirdly, these actors tried to strengthen the status of integration policies by emphasising the linkage between successful integration policies and economic and social cohesion.