The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment is responsible for the preparation of matters concerning the promotion of immigrant integration in Finland. Within the ministry, promoting integration is the responsibility of the Minister of Employment.
Under the Act on the Promotion of Immigrant Integration, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment is responsible for
- the overall development, planning and steering of the integration policy; and
- the coordination, assessment and monitoring of the integration policy and the promotion of good ethnic relations at national level.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment steers the ELY Centres in their tasks related to promoting integration and good ethnic relations.
In order to promote cooperation and exchange of information between the ministries and to coordinate the measures, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment is assisted by a cooperation body, in which the ministries playing a key role in integration are represented.
The aim of the cooperation body is to increase the effectiveness of immigrant integration by coordinating and enhancing national planning, measures and steering in the promotion of integration.
As part of its tasks, the cooperation body
- discusses the integration policy guidelines concerning different administrative branches;
- collects, evaluates and analyses data on integration and integration policy implementation to promote immigrant integration and enhance the impact of integration policy;
- serves as a steering group for the drafting and monitoring of the Government Integration Programme.
The members of the cooperation group are high-level public officials representing different ministries. The cooperation group has representatives from the following ministries: Ministry of Education and Culture, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Department for Local Government and Regional Administration of the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of the Environment.
Read more:
Tasks of the authorities
Government Integration Programme
