Overcoming ‘Otherness’: Moritz Jesse in Madrid on Integration of Immigrants
Dr. Moritz Jesse, Associate Professor of European Union Law at the Europa Institute Leiden, presented about the legal transition of migrants from outsiders to insiders at the 26th International Conference of Europeanists, which took place in Madrid in June.
In his talk, Jesse sketched how immigrants are the natural outsiders in societies, which determine legal status and rights available to individuals with reference to nationality and belonging to a nation state. In the context of EU Citizenship, EU free-movement rights, and EU migration regulation determining the status of third-country nationals, more and more immigrants and national immigration administrations in the EU have to look at EU legislation to determine the legal status, rights, and duties of non-nationals.
Jesse relied on his book ‘The Civic Citizens of Europe’ and the outcomes of his VENI Research project ‘The Others Amongst Us’ in his presentation. The topics of immigration, crossing national borders, and the status of individual immigrant have a close connection to national sovereignty. As such, the presentation fitted nicely in the overall conference theme, which was ‘Sovereignties in Contention: Nations, Regions, and Citizens in Europe’.