News

On September 4 our President Heather Roy spoke at a hearing on ‘A more inclusive citizenship open to immigrants’ at the European Economic and Social Committee.

Here you can download her full speech.

Some of her main points:

• All people are rights holders and discussions on democracy, integration and citizenship cannot be separated.
• The current crisis is pushing people to the margins of societies and migrants are pushed even further because they lack access to their rights – ‘if your face doesn’t fit you will not be allowed to participate’. We have to turn the trend around and define what citizenship is. It is not only about political rights but also about a sense of belonging and to overcome the ‘we and them’, it is about equal access and freedom from discrimination – it’s a ‘two-way process’. A citizenship test should not demand higher requirements than we expect from ourselves.
• People today move for different periods of their lives to different countries – it is therefore important that the EU addresses mobility to ensure that people can access their fundamental rights, pension rights etc.

Ms Roy welcomed several points made by the rapporteur Luis Miguel Pariza Castanos in his draft opinion on inclusive citizenship, such as:

• Administrative obstacles to the application of free movement in practice – and disparity between …legislative provision and the reality
• Warn of the risk of increased intolerance, racism and xenophobia against immigrants and minorities
• Integration is a two-way social process of mutual adaptation between immigrants and the host society
• Wants everybody residing in the EU to receive fair treatment, regardless of their migratory status or nationality

Some of our recommendations (from our position paper on migration)

• Participation in public and political life is an important element to integration. However, migrants are particularly under-represented and are either not authorised to vote in local elections or do not have access to information about their rights and how they can participate. Naturalisation and citizenship rights on the other hand foster the political participation of migrants. Migrant associations and civil society organisations, including migrant women’s organisations, have a key role to play in contributing to the European migration and integration policy debate.
• Keep a structural dialogue with migrant associations and CSOs, including migrant women’s organisations, to the European migration and integration policy debate. NGOs also play a key role in helping to change attitudes towards migrants by providing a platform for dialogue, opportunities and access.
• EU-citizens exercising their right to free movement can experience similar problems as third country nationals (when ending up in destitution), despite the different legal framework and protection system applicable to them. Define better the sets of criteria on free movement to be considered by member states in an adequate and proportional way to ascertain if an economically inactive EU citizen is an unreasonable burden to the social assistance system in order to ensure that no EU citizen is left destituted.
• Mainstream a rights-based approach throughout the Europe 2020 Strategy, including the National Reform Programmes, the National Social Reports and the Country-Specific Recommendations as a part of the European Semester to ensure that all migrants have equal access to rights, resources and opportunities. / Monitor how member states include migrants and their families within social inclusion and anti-poverty strategies (and its recommendations), including the Active Inclusion Strategies, the Country Specific Recommendations, the European Platform Against Poverty and Social Exclusion as well as the Social Investment Package. (Mainstream the principles of the Commission’s Common Agenda for Integration).