CIVEX Commission calls for comprehensive European response to tragedies in Mediterranean Sea

The European Committee of the Regions' Commission for Citizenship, Governance, Institutional and External affairs (CIVEX) has welcomed the outcome of the extraordinary Summit on migration, but has expressed reservations on whether the decisions taken are far-reaching enough. In a declaration calling for a "comprehensive European response" to the migrants crisis, CIVEX urges the EU and the member states to examine the issue of rescue operations in international waters and to provide regional and local authorities with the necessary means to respond effectively to emergency situations. It further calls for a new approach to the European Neighbourhood Policy to strengthen the local dimension and address the root causes of migration.

In a debate held on 24 April at the meeting of the CIVEX Commission on the migrants crisis, CIVEX President François Decoster (FR/ALDE) stressed: "Local and regional authorities have significant responsibility in this field and are directly affected by these tragedies. They should not and cannot be left alone in handling dramatic and overwhelming humanitarian situations. It is crucial to empower cities and regions to enable them to respond properly and effectively to emergency situations at the local level".

He added:  "In the European Committee of the Regions, many of our members are representatives of cities and regions who play an essential part in welcoming and integrating migrants. The CoR contribution will therefore be key to help find concrete and efficient solutions on the ground so that such tragedies will never happen again."

President Decoster also announced his intention to organize in the coming weeks in Calais (France) a summit gathering the mayors of the towns and municipalities most affected by migration flows, including those from the partner countries around the Mediterranean.

The CIVEX political declaration adopted today welcomes the decisions of yesterday's Summit as "going in the right direction" but questions the fact that they may not be "far-reaching enough". In a bid to encourage a comprehensive response to the current humanitarian crisis, it calls for more "migration and integration partnerships" to be set up between cities and regions in countries of origin and destination, so as to increase co-operation and enhance mutual trust. CIVEX members also reiterated their call for the principles of solidarity and shared responsibility to be actively applied by all levels of government. A shift in the approach of the European Neighbourhood Policy must also be sought so as to tackle the political and economic reasons behind the phenomenon of immigration.

The European Committee of the Regions will contribute to the discussions and decision-making through its relevant internal bodies - the CIVEX Commission and the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly, through its participation in the European Migration Forum, and by cooperating with the relevant organisations and stakeholders in the concerned regions. It is due to prepare and adopt its position setting out its recommendations from the perspective of cities and regions at its next plenary session in June and also on the basis of an opinion to be adopted later in 2015.

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