Brussels, 28/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - A European forum on migration was held in Brussels on Monday 26 and Tuesday 27 January at the initiative of the European Commission and European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) in order to debate migration flows in the Mediterranean. It was put together as a “platform for dialogue with civil society on issues of migration, asylum and integration”.
The forum was the first of its kind and brought together representatives from the European institutions, civil society and European and Mediterranean towns and regions, an EESC press release states. European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos attended the closing session.
The president of the Committee of the Regions, Michel Lebrun, “underlined the need for a real Euro-Mediterranean policy for migration”, the press release states. He also called for the creation of “partnerships for migration and integration between the towns and regions of the countries of origin and destination in order to guarantee a more centralised management of migration” - a step involving the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM). Lebrun called on the Commission to strengthen its political, financial and technical support in a context of urgency for regional and local authorities. “We need a real Euro-Mediterranean policy for migration that enables illegal immigration to be addressed and that encourages economic growth on both sides of the Mediterranean”, he said. He also said that their experiences of integration should be “approached in a coordinated way because, when it comes to welcoming migrants, the results depend on the ability to integrate and to be integrated - an area in which our mayors play a fundamental role”.
In his response, Avramopoulos “recognised that the EU must do more”. He announced that the Commission was going “to continue to support the integration of migrants at the regional and local level”, and believed that “only a common approach to migration” was “relevant in order to help migrants in their need, strengthen the EU's borders, ensure better management of migratory flows and also open up legal routes and support integration”. Initiatives will be launched that aim “to fight against the illegal trafficking of migrants and to encourage awareness-raising campaigns in the countries of origin - which the key partners in this fight”, Avramopoulos stated (our translation throughout). (FB)