European Commission and EUROCITIES sign Milan Declaration on integration 13-11-2007 On 5 November in Milan, Franco Frattini, Vice-President of the European
Commission, Letizia Moratti and Ivo Opstelten - Mayors of Milan and Rotterdam
respectively – jointly signed the Milan Declaration, in which the Commission and
EUROCITIES agree on good cooperation for the successful integration of
immigrants
The Milan Declaration emphasizes the crucial role played by cities for the
integration of immigrants, pointing out that cities are the main places where
migrants settle and where integration is critical to building and maintaining
social cohesion. Through the Declaration, the European Commission and
EUROCITIES, the network of large European cities, commit themselves to ongoing
engagement to strengthen the voice of cities in shaping and implementing the
European Common Agenda for Integration, presented by the Commission in September
2005. The Declaration underlines that the principles of migrant partnership,
empowerment and good governance are important building blocks for the success of
integration policies at local level.
The Declaration was signed during the opening session of the second
‘Integrating Cities’ conference, taking place in Milan on 5-6 November and
attended by 300 participants. The ‘Integrating Cities’ process, launched in
Rotterdam in October last year, aims at establishing dialogue and cooperation on
integration policies between the local, national and European levels. Speaking
on behalf of EUROCITIES, Rotterdam’s Mayor Ivo Opstelten said yesterday that
this year’s conference marks ‘a further milestone in the good cooperation
between the European institutions and European Cities’ on the issue of immigrant
integration.
The Milan conference saw the launch of the project ‘Benchmarking Local
Integration Governance’, co-funded by the INTI-Programme of the European
Commission and coordinated by EUROCITIES. The project, which will run until
January 2009, is aimed at assessing governance structures and practices
supporting the integration of migrants and minorities at local level. Twelve
European cities are partners in the project: Amaroussion, Barcelona, Belfast,
Dusseldorf, Genoa, Helsinki, Lyon, Malmo, Milan, Rotterdam, Tampere and Utrecht.
Within the framework of the ‘Integrating Cities’ process, EUROCITIES and the
European Commission are also cooperating on the development of the European
Website on Integration, and have agreed to continue organising an annual
conference on the theme of integration.
Source:
EUROCITIES
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