European cities integrating migrants: from Amsterdam to Zagreb, fostering a dialogue about successful policies

Brussels, 7 April 2008

Speech by President Halvdan Skard, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe

Mr Chairman,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a pleasure and honour for me to be here in Brussels today and represent the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, a unique pan-European assembly bringing together elected representatives of more than 200 000 territorial communities from 47 European countries. The Congress is proud to be a co-founder of the Network of Cities for Local Integration Policies, CLIP, which is at the heart of this Conference and which is the concrete realisation of many initiatives and recommendations made over the years by the Congress. I also wish to welcome here our partners in this endeavour – the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, the European Commission and the EU Committee of the Regions.

The CLIP project is aimed at improving the situation of migrants in Europe’s cities, and their effective and sustainable participation and integration at local level. For us, it seeks to fill a gap in analysing and evaluating recent efforts by local authorities to co-ordinate and learn from each other in an innovative way.  We in the Congress have long felt that while cities and regions are clearly increasingly key players for the implementation of integration programmes, they have not been, until now, sufficiently involved in decision-making on migration issues at national and international level.

Yet, cities are the historical stakeholders and actors in the field of integration of migrants. They have traditionally been receptive to immigrants and offered them many possibilities. Many second generation immigrants also identify strongly with their city of residence - in many cases more so than with the nation itself. Any policy aiming at promoting social cohesion and equal opportunity depends on the input of cities, which contribute to policy formation on the national level and will make their contribution to European integration policies in the future. In this regard, we strongly believe that an imaginative, proactive social integration policy is urgently needed at municipal level. Municipal policies must find ways and means to find work and accommodation for migrants – whilst side-stepping the hostility and potential racism their presence may provoke amongst the local population. 

Indeed, the Congress has called repeatedly for involvement of the local level in the shaping of integration policies and has stressed the important role of the local level for any successful implementation. Since its creation in 1994,  the Congress has made migration issues a priority, and has devoted particular attention to the issue of the integration of immigrants, in terms of both their social integration – as dealt with in Resolution 153 on vulnerable groups and employment, adopted in 2002 – but also in terms of policy matters, and here I can refer to Resolution 181 on “A pact for the integration and participation of people of immigrant origin in Europe’s towns, cities and regions”, adopted in 2004.

The Congress, in cooperation with the City of Stuttgart has held a number of international workshops and major international conferences on the participation of foreign residents in urban life and on local integration policies, one of the many positive outcomes being the birth of the idea of this network.  In addition, the Congress has published a handbook on local consultative bodies for foreign residents, which includes an analytical study on foreigners’ participation in local policies.

I can also mention that the Congress has been actively promoting the implementation of the Council of Europe’s Convention on the Participation of Foreigners in Public Life at Local Level. This Convention promotes the creation of consultative bodies at local level elected by the foreign residents in the local authority area or appointed by individual associations of foreign residents. The Convention also encourages granting every foreign resident the right to vote in local elections after five years of lawful and habitual residence in the host country, as well as to stand for election.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am particularly pleased that CLIP has concentrated its first efforts on the problem of housing – a basic right the Congress had identified, in Resolution 218 of 2006, which deals with effective access to social rights for immigrants and the role of local and regional authorities as being of critical importance for immigrants – alongside with, I should add, access to work, employment and social policies, education and vocational training, health care and citizen participation.

Of course, housing is not only a crucial element in migrants’ integration into the host society, but also an area in which local governance can make a real and tangible impact. In this regard, the Congress has taken up CLIP’s conclusions in its forthcoming report, and will present its recommendations for adoption at its next plenary session in May this year.

I would like to conclude by recalling that in the Declaration of the Third Summit of Council of Europe Heads of State and Government, adopted in Warsaw on 16 May 2005, the member states strongly condemned all forms of intolerance and discrimination and underlined their determination to build cohesive societies in Europe by ensuring fair access to social rights, fighting exclusion and protecting vulnerable social groups.

In doing so, they recognised that the situation that many immigrants are facing today is not acceptable and requires urgent action, by European policy makers, by governments but also by local and regional authorities. We all have a responsibility to prevent the social exclusion of immigrants and therefore to preserve the social cohesion of our societies, for now and for the future.

The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities is convinced that the exchange of experience of successful measures in the field of integration is essential. The cities represented in the CLIP network have between them a multitude of different approaches, different interests, different urban contexts, different constraints: by pooling these experiences together within a scientifically evaluated and controlled framework it is our hope that this network can make a valuable contribution to the convergence of European integration policies.

The CLIP initiative, and today’s conference are first steps in ensuring that the long experience of cities can help to shape tomorrow’s policies and that national and European policies aiming at strengthening social integration and equal opportunities take the local dimension and local experience into consideration. It is also part of an increasing number of city networks – Cities for Peace, Cities for Children, Cities for Human Rights – which demonstrate the growing power of cities in today’s political architecture and underpin the emerging phenomenon of City Diplomacy – the theme which was the subject of a recent report by the Congress and which will be discussed at the first conference on City Diplomacy in The Hague in June this year.

For us, City Diplomacy and networks such as CLIP are a visible counterbalance to what used to be called just a few years ago “Fortress Europe”. Instead of closing in behind the impenetrable walls, we all are seeking to build an open Europe of Inclusion and Integration, a Europe friendly to all of its residents regardless of their origin. Together, we can make it a success.

Thank you.