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Over the past decade the European Union (EU) countries have promoted common policies to respond to the ever more pressing need to define a coordinated action for the control of the migratory flux across the European continent. Starting from the intergovernmental conference of 1997, in fact, immigration has been a constant issue on the Community policy agenda at the EU Councils of 1998, 2000, 2001, & 2004. In more recent years, the EU institutions have concentrated their efforts on defining not only a shared immigration strategy (regarding, eg, common norms on family recognition & rights of asylum), but also adequate policies of integration of extra-EU citizens who recognize rights & responsibilities similar to those guaranteed to EU citizens. In this light, the Commission approved in 2005 the Outline for the Integration of Citizens of Third Countries in the European Union. The complex nature of the EU, however, poses problems for defining a common model of integration, because its member states approach the theme of immigrant integration in different ways. Adapted from the source document.