29th Session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe (Strasbourg, 20-22 October 2015)

Debate on Refugee and migrants crisis: what is the role of local and regional authorities?

21.10.2015

Address by Gunn Marit HELGESEN (Norway, EPP/CCE), Congress rapporteur

Dear colleagues,

You may remember that the Congress Bureau adopted a declaration on the tragic drowning of refugees in the Mediterranean in 2013. Since then, the refugee situation has, as we all know, worsened a hundred-fold both in humanitarian terms and in terms of the challenges faced by States – and in particular by local and regional authorities – throughout Europe.

The Bureau therefore welcomed the text before you at its meeting last Monday and decided unanimously not only to adopt it as a Bureau declaration, but to put it on the agenda for today’s debate so that it could, if adopted, become a Congress declaration.

This text, which the Bureau considered excellent and endorsed with few changes, is the initiative of the French delegation to the Congress – and the fruit, in particular, of the vision of our host city, Strasbourg.  My colleague Nawel Rafik-Elmrini, who is deputy mayor of Strasbourg, will therefore present not only an overview of the declaration which speaks eloquently for itself, but also the background to the network of cities it advocates.

This declaration is a tool for us to reiterate our profound commitment to the principles of solidarity, social cohesion and the values promoted by the Council of Europe and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities as well as our rejection of the xenophobia and racism that is raising its ugly head across Europe: I urge you to adopt it.

Thank you