MBR_ISSUE 40_Lowres

Malta Business Review
MIGRATION
EU Commissioners Avramopoulos and Hahn discuss
managing migration and EU enlargement at #CoRplenary
On 22 March Dimitris Avramopoulos, European Commissioner for Migration, Home
Affairs and Citizenship, will discuss progress of the European Union's migration
agenda and the integration of migrants in cities and regions, many of whom host
refugees and new arrivals from the Middle East and North Africa. This debate kicks
off the European Committee of the Regions' March plenary session in Brussels that
will also focus on the EU's possible enlargement to the Western Balkans. Johannes
Hahn, the EU's Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy & Enlargement
Negotiation, will participate in the debate.
Integrating migrants: EU
must show more unity and
give more support to local
authorities (22 March)
Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, twotime
mayor of Athens and former member
of the CoR, will discuss the state of the EU
migration agenda focusing specifically on the
integration of migrants into communities and
the labour market with CoR members. Laura
Thompson, Deputy Director-General of the
International Organisation for Migration, Anila
Noor, a refugee and member of the European
Migrant Advisory Board, and Elisabeth Bartke
from the Association of German Chambers
of Commerce and Industry, will also join the
debate on migration trends, experiences of
refugees, and efforts to integrate new arrivals
in Europe.
The European Union's efforts to support
cities and regions in receiving, hosting and
managing migrants remains inadequate, an
opinion drafted by Dimitrios Kalogeropoulos
(EL/EPP) argues. He draws particular
attention on the intense pressure on islands,
and calls for exploring the possibility of
"transferring responsibility for examining
asylum applications from national to EU
level". The CoR adopted an opinion on the
European Agenda on Migration in 2015.
Since then, it has adopted recommendations
for reform of the common European asylum
system, legal migration, and the integration
of immigrants.
The need for local reform: EU
enlargement to the Western
Balkans (22 March)
European Commissioner Johannes Hahn will
discuss progress of Western Balkans countries
have made towards EU membership and the
importance of local and regional government
reform. These are also the principal themes
of an opinion drafted by Franz Schausberger
(AT/EPP), representative of Salzburg. The
draft focuses on readying local and public
administrations as "absolutely essential" for
the success of integration. The opinion warns
of "a shift towards more autocratic forms of
government and centralisation" and says that
the EU "must be stronger and more stable" as a
result of enlargement to the Western Balkans.
The future EU budget and
cohesion policy (23 March)
EU local leaders will discuss their position
on the EU long-term budget after 2020 with
the European Parliament's co-rapporteur,
Jan Olbrycht (EPP/PL). The CoR is working
to shape the future EU cohesion policy
highlighting the 'cost of non-cohesion', with
the opinion by Mieczysław Struk (PL/EPP),
Marshal of Pomerania. The CoR is also focused
on improving the impact of the European
Social Fund – the EU's main instrument to
support employment, education and social
inclusion policies – with proposals included
in the opinion prepared by the President
of the Umbria Region and Chair of the CoR
PES Group, Catiuscia Marini. How to support
structural reforms in the context of the
forthcoming Eurozone's reform will be the
challenge addressed by the opinion prepared
by Olga Zrihen (BE/PES), member of the
Parliament of Wallonia. MBR
Credit: PresseCdr@cor.europa.eu; CoR/18/044.en
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