Assembly of European Regions - General Assembly 2008

“From migration to integration”

Tampere, Finland, 12-15 November 2008

Speech by Ludmila Sfirloaga, President of the Chamber of Regions

Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe

Mr Chairman,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear colleagues,

It is a great honour for me to address this assembly today, the Assembly of European Regions, a long-standing partner of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe. We are natural partners, because we share not only common values of democracy and human rights, and not only common interests of strengthening the role of regions in today’s European political landscape, but also the common cause of advancing territorial democracy and improving the well-being of our communities.

Regional issues are clearly one area where our interests coincide directly. Ever since the regional dimension was added to the activities of the Conference of Local Authorities, the Congress’ predecessor, making it Conference of Local and Regional Authorities in 1975, regionalisation has been high on our political agenda, reflecting the growing power and importance of regions in many Council of Europe member states and the strengthening of regional democracy on our continent. Today, many national parliaments in Europe have regional representation in the second chamber; a growing number of countries have regions with legislative power; still others are in the process of developing regional structures.

The work of the Congress in this area resulted in the European Charter of Regional Democracy, adopted at the plenary session in May 2008 after a long period of elaboration and consultations with a large number of national and international associations and organisations, including the Assembly of European Regions which I wish to thank for its support to this project.

Apart from being the first legal text laying down the tenets of regional democracy, the Charter reaffirms respect for national sovereignty and territorial integrity as one of its main principles, and offers a variety of flexible existing models for regional autonomy, which, we are convinced, can only strengthen national territorial development and could also be used in settling territorial questions. These regional models, reflecting different European viewpoints, represent an alternative to any uniform system of regionalisation. However, the new Charter of Regional Democracy will serve first and foremost to preserve and enhance regional identity and development in the political, economic, social and cultural spheres.

The Charter has now been submitted to the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers. We express our gratitude to our partners which have already adopted declarations of support for this text, and count on your support in convincing national governments of the expediency of such a legal instrument.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The theme of this Assembly is “From migration to integration”. For our Congress, issues relating to migration and its management are of great importance, because local and regional authorities are directly affected, in the most concrete way, by migration flows. Indeed, 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. As leaders and “managers” of their communities, local and regional authorities have a key role to play in facilitating this integration and interaction of migrants with the rest of the community.

This is a particular focus of the Congress’ approach, which I would describe as “integration through participation and equal treatment”, and which necessarily includes the important economic factor – integration through employment. 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.

The importance of migrants’ contribution to the economic progress in Europe today was also recognised by the Council of Europe Ministers responsible for migration issues, at their Conference in Kyiv in September this year, where the Congress participated and contributed our views. It is essential that national governments are at the same wavelength with us, also in regarding the protection of migrants’ rights, the enforcement of the principle of equal treatment and non-discrimination as key guarantees of social cohesion within our communities.

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.

It is clear that education, including professional education, and employment – the two issues which I have just mentioned – are closely interlinked and are both important factors for integration which is not, however, limited to these two factors alone. Participation in political life and civil society, non-discrimination and equal access to social rights and public services – housing and health care in particular – are all part of a holistic package supported by the Congress in its approach to migration management.

I am pleased to see that this approach is also shared by the Assembly of European Regions, as reflected in the draft Final Declaration of this Conference. This confirms once again that the Congress and your Assembly not only share common goals but also agree on ways of achieving them, making our cooperation useful and mutually advantageous – the cooperation which, I am sure, we will be pursuing and strengthening in the years to come. Thank you.