Parliamentary question - O-000104/2018Parliamentary question
O-000104/2018

The role of local and regional authorities in migration management

19.9.2018

Question for oral answer O-000104/2018
to the Commission
Rule 128
Cecilia Wikström, Sophia in 't Veld, Nathalie Griesbeck, Louis Michel, Maite Pagazaurtundúa Ruiz, Morten Helveg Petersen, Gérard Deprez, on behalf of the ALDE Group

The absence of greater solidarity among EU Member States in managing migration and providing reception for asylum seekers, including through a functioning Dublin system, has led to a crisis of policy at EU and national level, with local and regional authorities (LRAs) often left with limited means and guidance to receive and support migrants and refugees. While many LRAs have shown great solidarity in welcoming and ensuring access to services such as housing, healthcare, and education, and in enabling and promoting the long-term integration of migrants and refugees residing on the local territory, their actions and initiatives are often not supported at a national level with adequate funding and legal frameworks.

In the light of the above, would the Commission deem it necessary:

1. To strive, at EU level, for greater solidarity and more effective coordination among the Member States, including through a reform of the Dublin system and the provision of reception conditions along the lines of the European Parliament’s reports?

2. To provide a long-term commitment – from national governments and the EU – to increase direct funding for cities and regions by granting direct access to the relevant MFF funding for LRAs, especially given the key role of LRAs in ensuring the reception of asylum seekers, access to services and long-term integration into host communities?

3. To establish a platform for LRAs to draw up and share, on a voluntary basis, their respective contingency plans for the reception of asylum seekers and access to services such as education for children in local schools, and access to healthcare and housing?

4. To develop specific legal frameworks in order to facilitate the initiatives and actions of LRAs in welcoming refugees and migrants, and to consult with local and regional levels of government when developing the aforementioned legal and administrative framework and involve them in the measures taken with respect to their territories?

5. To establish flexible labour migration policies to ensure that companies and employers can get access to the human resources they need, to facilitate early integration processes and to foster foreign nationals’ participation in the affairs of local authorities once their residency status has been clarified, by signing and ratifying the Additional Protocol to the European Charter of Local Self-Government (CETS No 207)?

Last updated: 21 September 2018
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