Introduction

The 'Integrating Cities' Process was launched in 2006 by the European Commission and EUROCITIES as a series of conferences aiming to establish a dialogue on integration and create bridges of cooperation between the local, national and European level. The first Conference 'Integrating Cities' was hosted by Rotterdam (2006) and European Commissioner Franco Frattini with the support of Commissioners Spidla, Hübner and Figel. The conference brought together key experts, decision-makers and practitioners in the area of migrant integration and presented ideas for the practical implementation of the Common Basic Principles and the European Framework for Integration at local level.

Integrating Cities II is the follow-up Conference to Rotterdam, and this year it is hosted by the city of Milan. The Conference will also mark the official opening of the project 'INTI-Cities: Benchmarking Local Integration Governance', that frames the broader context within which also 'Integrating Cities II' takes place. INTI-Cities will assess integration governance in European cities against a set of benchmarks and present good practices and lessons learned on the basis of collected evidence. The Project is carried out by EUROCITIES, Migration Policy Group and Ethics etc and financed by the European Fund for Integration of third country nationals.