International Conference on

“Integrating foreign residents into local public life: challenges and prospects”

Strasbourg, 15-16 octobre 2010

Speech by President a.i Ian Micallef,

Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, Council of Europe

Ladies and Gentlemen,

What do we hear when we hear the word “foreign”? If we look at the root of this word, in almost every language it has come to mean something that does not fit, something that is strange, something that stands out. Something or someone. “Foreign” signifies “the Other”, someone we don’t know, someone we don’t understand, someone we may even fear as we may fear anything that is unknown to us.

And yet residents from outside the established settlement, from outside the common origin – so-called “foreign residents” are a substantial and growing percentage of almost any local or regional community in Europe today. Indeed, what else can you expect in a society that promotes integration on a multiethnic continent which is today united, a continent where national borders are disappearing?

However, next to integration comes the need for inclusion, for building an inclusive society and community, in order to keep their fabric intact and to prevent conflict. This seems to be a much more difficult task. The fear of the Other is there, stopping us from embracing the unknown. In order to overcome this fear, we must get to know one another, learn about each other’s culture and come to respect our fellow resident. This learning process certainly begins where people interact with one another face to face – in our towns and cities, and the best way towards this goal is through their joint participation in the affairs of the local community.

After all, if democracy means “the power of people”, then people’s participation in power-sharing and decision-making is its essential requirement. Citizens’ involvement is indeed an imperative of modern democracy, which must be, and is increasingly becoming, participatory democracy. For local communities, it translates into the participation of all its residents. 

This participation is also crucial for improving local governance, making it more transparent, more efficient and more accountable, and ensuring higher ethical standards in local government action. In addition, involving local residents in decision-making is a sure way of tapping into their great potential for innovation. Last but not least, increased participation also addresses the immaterial dimension of citizens’ needs, as a sign of recognition of everyone’s individuality and personal dignity, providing room for their creativity and self-expression.  

This is why for decades, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe has been ardently advocating the integration of foreign residents into local public life, through their increased participation. As far back as 1987, we already adopted a resolution on foreigners in regional and local communities, which led to the Council of Europe Convention on the Participation of Foreigners in Public Life at Local Level, adopted in 1992.

The importance of citizens’ participation is also recognised in the European Charter of Local Self-Government – the first binding treaty to guarantee the rights of communities, opened for signature in 1985, and the basic document for the Congress. The Charter’s Preamble affirms that “the right of citizens to participate in the conduct of public affairs is one of the democratic principles that are shared by all member States of the Council of Europe”.

An Additional Protocol to the Charter, adopted at the Congress’ initiative and opened for signature in November last year, provides a legal guarantee of the right to participate in the affairs of a local authority. Such participation – which is defined as the right to seek to determine or to influence the exercise of a local authority's powers and responsibilities – is decisive because it helps to reinforce the legitimacy of decisions, and because it enables public authorities to listen to citizens' views and to learn from them in order to improve the policies pursued and the services provided. Finally, participation gives a feeling of belonging and makes local communities places where people wish to live and work, both now and in the future.

Of course, the most evident sign of participation is the right to vote and the right to be elected. The 1992 Convention of the Council of Europe grants both these rights to foreign residents in relation to local elections. However, action for integration is not limited to voting rights alone, and the past decade saw a growing diversity of ways to involve foreign residents, to give them a voice and representation. Throughout the years, the Congress acted to encourage this diversity, calling for the creation of consultative bodies of foreign residents in towns and cities, measures for local integration of migrants and diversity in municipal employment, and policies for fostering intercultural dialogue and building intercultural communities.

If I were to mention all the areas in which the Congress put forward proposals for action, I would also add involving young people at local and regional level, promoting specificially the participation of women in local and regional political life, encouraging the use of new technologies at local level as a tool to boost participation in the framework of e-democracy, organising the annual European Local Democracy Week – part of which is this conference – and finally, advocating a new vision of urban community, laid down in European Urban Charter II: Manifesto for a new urbanity.

This conference is meant to look at the practical application of our proposals, and at the existing practices and various frameworks that were put in place across the 47 member states of the Council of Europe over the years. I welcome this excellent and timely initiative of our host City of Strasbourg, and welcome all of you to this event. Back in 1999, the Congress and the City of Strasbourg already organised a conference to promote councils of foreign residents, and I am pleased to see that this initiative has taken root, with so many municipalities that have set up representative structures for foreigners, and so many of them present here today.

I am also pleased to see representatives of the various municipal networks present here, such as Cities for Local Integration Policies, Intercultural Cities and the Strasbourg Club. The Congress welcomes and supports their active involvement in fostering a new, inclusive society in our local communities, which are building blocks for a Europe of Inclusion and Social Justice.

This is our common objective, and I wish you fruitful and constructive discussions at this conference to move this objective forward, closer to reality.

Thank you.