Local and regional politicians from EU Member States visited the
Eleonas refugee hosting centre in Athens today (
photo
) and voiced their concern over the lack of support for integration
measures at local and regional level. The European Committee of the
Regions (CoR)
has repeatedly called to make relevant EU funds supporting reception
and integration of migrants directly accessible to local and regional
authorities which bear key responsibilities in these domains.
The CoR's Commission for Citizenship, Governance, Institutional and
External Affairs (CIVEX) met on Thursday in Athens to discuss European
Commission's recent
proposal for Asylum and Migration Fund
for EU's next multiannual financial framework 2021–27. The CoR will adopt
its position at the plenary session in October. The current
draft opinion
prepared by Peter Bossman (SI/PES), Mayor of Piran,
regrets that the Member States are no longer required to allocate at least
20% of the available funding to asylum action and 20% to integration, which
could mean that countering irregular migration and strengthening EU's
external borders will be prioritised over other action.
"Member States should be encouraged to use part of their programme
allocation to fund integration measures implemented by cities, regions and
civil society, as well as actions to develop assisted voluntary return and
reintegration programmes and effective alternatives to detention", the
rapporteur-general Bossman argued.
Barbara Duden
(DE/PES), chair of the CIVEX commission and member of Hamburg City
Parliament, emphasised that "we must ensure that newcomers do not feel
marginalised. That implies serious investment into our social
infrastructure in partnership with cities and regions. At the same time,
many of the root causes of migration are related to a lack of economic,
social and political development. The EU's development cooperation must
place a greater emphasis on cooperation with local and regional governments
than in the past. We will certainly raise this point in our upcoming
opinion on the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation
instrument, as the European Commission's current
proposal
lacks focus on the local dimension."
On the second day of the meeting Lefteris Papagiannakis,
Athens' Vice-Mayor for Migrants, Refugees and Municipal Decentralization,
welcomed the CoR delegation led by First Vice-President Markku Markkula to Eleonas, a government-run refugee
centre which hosts over 2000 people of various nationalities.
"Greece was hit hard by the economic crisis, followed by the mass arrival
of migrants in 2015. To respond to the needs of the newly arrived people
and facilitate their integration, we have established a network of 12
cities of different size, covering the whole of Greece and working together
in the same direction", Vice-Mayor Papagiannakis said.
"We highly appreciate the efforts of the Greek government and local and
regional authorities that have provided shelter to hundreds of thousands of
migrants during difficult economic times", First Vice-President Markkula
said. "Our view is that the EU should take necessary steps towards a common
asylum and migration policy based on the principles of solidarity and fair
sharing of responsibility. Successful migration and integration policy also
requires improved collaboration with local governments, business and civil
society."
Speaking during a separate conference organised by the CIVEX Commission and
the Central Union of Municipalities of Greece on Friday, Dimitris Avramopoulos, Commissioner for Migration, Home
Affairs and Citizenship, urged for a deeper political integration in the
field of migration, security and border policies, starting with the
revision of the Dublin system and providing new paths for legal migration.
He also pointed out that local communities need more means to be more
efficient on the field and thanked the CoR for its contribution to the
European Agenda on Security.
Friday's conference focused on European citizens' perceptions of security
which have declined in particular in Member States that have recently
suffered terrorist attacks. Georgios Patoulis (EL/EPP),
Mayor of Maroussi and President of the Central Union of Municipalities of
Greece, concluded: "It is crucial to strengthen the sense of security of
citizens without, however, affecting their individual rights and personal
freedoms. We must jointly find the golden incision and maintain the
necessary balance for the benefit of the citizens."
More information
Eleonas is a government-run refugee centre located in the suburbs of Athens
and supervised by the Greek Migration Ministry. It was the first mainland
refugee centre in Greece, opened in August 2015. The current population of
the centre is approximately 2000 people, comprised of various
nationalities. It has received funding from the EU's
Internal Security Fund
and from the
EU Emergency Support Instrument
.
The CIVEX commission also adopted a set of recommendations for EU's future
enlargement through a
draft opinion
prepared by Franco Iacop (IT/PES), regional councillor of
Friuli Venezia Giulia. While regretting that reforms in the Western Balkans
geared to EU accession have slowed down, it welcomes the compromise reached
between Greece and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia regarding the
official name of the country. It also points out that the aid provided by
the EU to the Western Balkans and Turkey to help them manage migration
flows must reach the local and regional authorities who are involved every
day in reception and support work.
Contact:
Lauri Ouvinen
Tel. +32 22822063 / +32 473536887
lauri.ouvinen@cor.europa.eu