TREE PROJECT – INTEGRATION CONTEXT ANALYSIS: Overview of Asylum and Integration Policies in four sub-regions of the MeuseRhine Euroregion and the Obstacles to the Implementation of New Training Measures

The increased inflow of refugees to the European Union beginning in 2015 resulted in many
changes in immigration policy and issues of refugee reception and integration. The escalating
violence and economic hardship in Africa and the Middle East have, with few exceptions, led to
European governments tightening border controls and insisting upon varying levels of
‘assimilation’ for refugees. However, there are opportunities for European regions to benefit
from this new migration and the TREE (Training for InteGrating Refugees in the Euregio) project
aims to support the Euregio Meuse-Rhine (see figure 1) - specifically the sub-regions of the
Province of Liège in Belgium; Limburg Province in the Netherlands; and the Aachen Region (in
North Rhine-Westphalia) and the Eifel region (in Rhineland Palatinate) in Germany – to harness
these opportunities by supporting refugees in their adjustment to their new lives. This will be
done by targeting the workers who support refugees on a regular basis and helping them to
improve the skills necessary for this work. The TREE project will result in new training modules
that focus on the skills that workers themselves identify as most important in their work with
refugees.