ARRIVAL CITIES

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Since the submission of the phase one application, the issues of migration and integration have moved significantly higher on the EU, national and local (city) levels. The tragic events in Paris, the state of emergency in Brussels, the ongoing arrival of migrants fleeing war and poverty and the attacks on women in several German and Swedish cities have brought to the fore the ongoing challenges facing cities in respect of managing the new flows as well as addressing the issue of integration.The most recent data underlines the scale of the policy challenge. In 2014, 40.1 % of the non-EU-born population in the EU was assessed to be at risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) compared with less than 22.5 % of the native-born populationFor young people the situation is even bleaker. In 2013, 43.8 % of young people aged 16–29 in the EU-28 who were foreign-born were at risk of poverty and social exclusion compared with 28.1 % of young people who were native-born. In respect to new arrivals Europe has recorded in 2015 an unprecedented number of asylum seekers and refugees with over one million asylum applications; an estimated 350 000 to 450 000 people could be granted refugee or similar status, more than in any previous European refugee crisis since World War II.

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