Abstract
<title>Abstract</title> <p>The present study is exploratory and assesses the capacity of Southern European countries—Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, and Malta—to integrate migrant talent into their human-capital systems. Nine indicators are examined across three dimensions: institutional policy inputs (D1), capturing formal arrangements for the integration of third-country nationals; socio-economic outcomes (D2), reflecting the degree of integration of the foreign-born population; and asylum-system pressure (D3), representing the administrative burden associated with asylum applications. The assessment is based on a cross-sectional matrix combining MIPEX 2020 scores with Eurostat indicators for 2023. All indicators are assigned equal weights and evaluated using predefined preference thresholds within a PROMETHEE II framework. Portugal and Malta obtain the most favourable overall positions, while Cyprus is located close to the neutral point. Spain, Italy, and Greece record negative net outranking flows, indicating less favourable configurations of policy, socio-economic outcomes, and administrative pressure. The analysis also identifies substantial divergence between formal policy inclusiveness and observed integration outcomes. Overqualification emerges as an important indicator of migrant skill underutilization. A one-at-a-time weight-stability analysis shows that the overall ranking is relatively stable, although asylum applications and access to nationality are comparatively sensitive criteria. The findings should not be interpreted causally or longitudinally because they depend on indicator selection, mixed reference years, weighting choices, preference thresholds, and the use of absolute asylum caseloads. The study’s main contribution is a transparent diagnostic framework for identifying policy–outcome divergence and cases requiring deeper institutional and micro-level investigation.</p>