The Handbook on Integration contains good practices and ‘lessons learned’ drawn from the experience of policy-makers and practitioners across Europe. By collecting and presenting concrete examples from different areas of immigrant integration, the handbook feeds into a larger policy process in the field of integration in the European Union (EU), notably the development of the European framework on integration.

The first edition of the handbook contained chapters on the introduction of newly arrived immigrants and refugees, civic participation, and indicators for measuring integration. It was presented at the Ministerial Conference on Integration held in Groningen on 9-11 November 2004 under the Dutch Presidency. It was based on a series of technical seminars held in Copenhagen (February 2004), Lisbon (April 2004) and London (June 2004).

As in the first handbook, the second edition includes a mixture of ‘methodological’ and ‘substantive’ topics: chapters on mainstreaming and on integration infrastructure examine the structures and mechanisms used for implementing successful integration strategies across all policy fields, whereas chapters on housing and on economic integration present practices and lessons learned in these specific areas. The second edition is based on a series of technical seminars hosted by ministries responsible for integration in five different Member States, taking the handbook exercise from Tallinn (May 2005) to Rome (July 2005), Dublin (October 2005), Berlin (December 2005) and Madrid (April 2006). Seminar participants came from the 25 Member States, as well as Norway and Switzerland.