Meeting of the Constitutional Committee of the EU Committee of the Regions

Athens, Greece, October 2008

Speech by Ian Micallef, President of the Chamber of Local Authorities, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, Council of Europe

Mr Chairman,

Ministers and their Representatives,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The process of European integration has brought the issues relating to migration and its management to the forefront of our political agenda. On the one hand, migration within Europe is becoming easier with the enlargement of the European Union, disappearance of political borders, and creation of common labour markets. On the other hand, Europe today is in need of migration from outside the continent, facing the aging population and the growing burden on the welfare state.

Migration and its management are of great importance to the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities. Local and regional authorities are directly affected, in the most concrete way, by migration flows and, as such, can and must contribute to national and international policy-making on the subject. Territorial communities are the first to cope, in practical terms, with the influx of migrants, having to provide them and their families with shelter and food and then seeing to their employment and integration into local society. Any policy measures on migration should therefore necessarily take into account the local and regional experience.

As leaders and “managers” of their communities, local and regional authorities have a key role to play in facilitating the integration of migrants and their interaction with the rest of the locaL community. Their concrete experience in what actually works can be translated into concrete action at national and international level and serve as their contribution to developing an integrated approach and common policy within countries.

Our particular focus is the integration of migrants into communities at local and regional level; I would say “integration through participation and equal treatment”. It is in this spirit that the Congress, together with the City of Stuttgart and the Dublin-based European Foundation for Improving Living and Working Conditions, co-founded a European network of Cities for Local Integration Policy, CLIP, launched in 2006 and now involving over 30 municipalities. CLIP provides a forum for local authorities to exchange ideas and best practice, compare approaches in different countries and put forward optimized proposals to national governments, thus giving local communities a voice in national policy-making. We are certain that more cities will be joining in, especially from Central and Eastern Europe, given the importance of the East-West axis in migration flows.

It goes without saying that local and regional authorities apply national policies and legislation regarding migrants, and also come up with their own ideas, proposals and innovative approaches showing flexibility and pragmatism in dealing with migrants. We strongly believe that migrants should be regarded as an asset, and helping them as an investment which will yield benefits with the migrants’ contribution to local economy. Whether a citizen or not, the migrant is de facto part of the fiber of the community, user of public services and as such an economic participant in its life.

This is why local and regional authorities, with the support of national governments, should implement measures conducive to the full involvement of migrants in the life of communities – measures including teaching the local language, promoting intercultural dialogue, providing professional training to equalise or upgrade the migrants’ qualifications, especially for professions lacking on a particular market. Local and regional authorities, which are often the largest employer in the region, should also introduce measures facilitating migrants’ employment – by, for example, reviewing their own restrictive recruitment requirements – and encouraging migrant entrepreneurship, giving them the possibility of starting their own small and medium-sized enterprises.

We believe that there should be more networks such as CLIP, involving local and regional authorities from the countries of origin, transit and destination. Another example of good practice could be networking between regions, involving communities of both countries of origin and of transit or countries of transit and of destination. In this regard, the Adriatic and Black Sea Euroregions, created by the Congress, could serve as a model. A common approach within such networks could ensure that potential migrants receive the professional training and qualifications accepted in the country of transit or of destination. It could also help with the eventual re-integration of migrants in their country of origin.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Recognising the important contribution by migrants to the economic progress in Europe and the need for the protection of migrants’ rights and the enforcement of the principle of equal treatment and non-discrimination as key guarantees of social cohesion is crucial for the development of our societies. It is important that this recognition be accepted by all levels of governance, including local and regional. We in the Congress believe that a truly integrated approach to migration and its management must necessarily involve the local and regional levels, and that regular dialogue on migration issues should be maintained between national governments and local and regional authorities.

I would also like to mention some specific issues involving transit migrants. A particularity of any country of transit regarding migrants is their limited duration of stay. This should not, however, change the fact that the authorities of transit countries have a duty to provide for the basic needs of migrants and, as far as possible, prepare them to be able to integrate more easily in the country of destination. One way of achieving this is through the harmonisation of laws and equalisation of professional requirements and qualifications between countries of transit and destination. Generally speaking, authorities in the countries of transit should see migration management as a long-term commitment, keeping in mind that infrastructures and services in place for migrants could be used for future migratory influxes.

We in the Congress are firmly behind extending the protection measures – and, I would add, public services and access to social rights – to all migrants, whether they are long-term or not. Equal treatment for migrants regardless of their status and duration of their stay must be ensured first and foremost at local level, in receiving or transit communities. Human rights don’t have a sell-by date.

Last nut not least, we also agree that receiving societies have a moral obligation not to profit from and increase the misery of poor countries by plundering their intellectual capital and encouraging the “brain drain”, which cripples future possibilities of the countries of origin. The “brain drain” can be counterbalanced, for example, by investing into promising sectors of those countries’ economies and, more importantly, into particular regions or municipal communities.

These are, briefly, the main axes of Congress’ activities and its position on migration issues today.

Thank you.