2023-06-10 05:19:00
For several months, the various cupolas have been alerting the political world. Last March, they sent a letter to the Walloon Minister for Social Action, Christie Morreale (PS). “From 2020, we will challenge you on the crucial projects to be undertaken in order to improve the policy of integration of foreigners and people of foreign origin in Wallonia. However, to date, our repeated steps have not led to anything concrete, while several crises have amplified the difficulties on the ground.”, affirmed the signatories. Before concluding : “Among the operators we represent, bitterness is growing, between anger and disillusion following the hopes that could have been placed in this legislature”.
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Weaknesses and shortcomings
In a report published in October 2022, the Court of Auditors examined the Walloon integration program launched in 2014, and made compulsory two years later for newcomers (it remains accessible to other people from foreign origin on a voluntary basis). The Court had observed a series of weaknesses and shortcomings. It pointed out, for example, that the identification procedure did not make it possible to ensure that the persons concerned by the obligation are systematically registered in the course. “In the absence of adequate data, it is in particular impossible to establish to what extent the current offer of services covers the demand inherent in the integration process.”, underlined the Court again. The report also indicated that it was impossible to comment on the quality of the services because this dimension was not sufficiently evaluated by the Walloon Region.
She had also pointed out that two thirds of the sector were financed on an optional basis. It is a form of financing that is similar to a form of sponsorship or sponsorship. An uncertain system therefore, which makes the work of associations unstable. “We are now in June and some organizations still do not know what subsidies will be granted to them. However, on the ground, the work continues, but blindly”, describes Muriel Wiliquet, advisor to the CAIPS federation (Concertation of Professional and Social Integration Workshops).
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Waiting for reform
”The Walloon government had nevertheless set itself the objective of continuing ‘the implementation of the integration process, [la] stabilization of the sector for the integration of people of foreign origin (promote approval and simplification of financing)’”, recall the federations, citing the government agreement concluded in 2019. The Minister of Social Action had also initiated an overhaul of the regulations. Work has started well, but the reform is slow to materialize.
The minister’s office specifies that the file is currently with the finance inspector and that the answer is necessary before the subject arrives on the government’s table. But field operators are starting to find the time long. “The timing is getting very – if not too – tight for the legislative process to be completed before Routine Proceedings in 2024”, dreads Muriel Wiliquet, who does not rule out taking action in the coming weeks.
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