Event report

Context, objective and theme

Europa Press, in collaboration with the European Parliament and in the framework of the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE), held the second of the events on 11 February in Seville, under the title 'The Future is in your hands. Immigration: a European response’.

This meeting and the various related information actions were carried out with the aim of reflecting on the work of the EU and other institutions in relation to migration flows. Thus, it was envisaged to analyse in depth possible ways to solve issues such as integrated border management, the distribution of migrants arriving in Europe along its southern border, international cooperation, asylum, legal migration or their integration, as well as giving a voice to institutions working frontline with migrants.

In addition, the ultimate objective of the event and the actions around it has been to promote a dialogue between the participants that, in turn, would be able to generate debate in the Social Networks and reflection in the citizens and, therefore, to encourage their participation in the platform for discussion of topics of the Conference on the Future of Europe.

Speakers and assistants

The meeting was attended by the Minister for Equality, Social Policy and Conciliation of the Junta de Andalucía, Rocío Ruiz, as speakers; the Chair of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs of the European Parliament, Juan Fernando López Aguilar; and the Regional Head of Immigration of the Red Cross in Andalusia, Ignacio Romero. The delegate of Europa Press in Andalusia, Francisco Morón, served as moderator.

The event had a hybrid format and a total of 74 people attended. Divided by sex, 50 per cent of all assistants were women, and the other 50 per cent were men. The result was broken down by type of attendance, out of 47 in-person attendees, 44.7 per cent were women and 55.3 per cent were men. As for the attendees by telematics, 59.3 % were women and 40.7 % were men out of a total of 27 attendees.

Europa Press does not have the geographical location of attendees or their ages, but due to professional occupation, most of the participants, both online and face-to-face, belonged to institutions or public administrations, and associations and non-governmental organisations related to immigration.

Structure

The Director of Business Development of Europa Press, Candelas Martín de Cabiedes, was in charge of opening the event and in her speech explained the project as a whole, which for the development of the themes chosen by several cities in Spain with the intention of bringing the European debate closer to the different Autonomous Communities. Subsequently, he gave way to the dialogue on which the event would focus, immigration, stressing to be a theme “key for the European Union, for Spain, but, singularly, for Andalusia”.

Then, a video was screened, framed in the previous information action of Europa Press regarding the event. The video, ‘Citizens think about how to respond to immigration’, was made with people’s testimonies based on questions such as, “Is Europe aware of the flow of immigration?”, “Are there countries facing the migration challenge to a greater extent?”, or “How could the situation be improved from the European Union?”

After this, the panel discussion itself began, with an initial intervention by the three rapporteurs and the subsequent colloquium.

Ideas

The main ideas suggested by the participants throughout the development of this topic are reflected in the ideas linked to this report, but the summary of them is as follows:

— The majority of citizens believe that Europe is unsolidated in the face of the phenomenon of immigration. — Governments must address the migration challenge in the country of origin with the aim of trying to find a solution that prevents such forced displacement. — The EU must face the migration challenge as a whole and not allow for further straining of pressure on border countries or by delegating exclusively management to the government of the destination country. — The Junta de Andalucía considers that the EU, in cooperation and coordination with the Spanish Government, should give a ‘joint and comprehensive’ response to the arrival of immigrants in the Autonomous Community and has refused to continue to put ‘patches in the face of specific crises’. It has also called for resources commensurate with the status of the southern border. — Juan Fernando López Aguilar MEP called for “dismantling the business model” of “mafias” who “exploit” migrants in their “desperation”, while appealing to “criminally attack” all forms of trafficking and exploitation of human beings. — The Regional Head of Immigration of the Red Cross in Andalusia, Ignacio Romero Molina, has focused on “integration” and “protection of human rights” as key elements in responding to immigration that arrives in the EU and has opted to “continue to influence humanitarian diplomacy”. — Some citizens believe that the EU must be built together and not just expect the European institutions to work to solve the problems of each country. — Citizens call for improved conditions in refugee camps, common and lasting mechanisms for asylum and refuge, for addressing the role of climate-related refugee, or for the labour migration system to take into account the professional profiles needed by the markets of the host countries. — They believe that migrants should undergo a training test in their countries of origin and compulsory language and integration courses when they arrive in receiving countries. — Citizens call for the promotion of knowledge about the EU, for it to be more active and closer, with a greater presence on Social Networks in order to “be more attractive” to citizens. They believe that more events similar to the Conference on the Future of Europe should be held to give citizens a voice. — The EU should have a common European army, which would reduce total military spending and increase the EU’s capacity to respond to threats, including cyber-attacks.

Dissemination of the event and call for participation Europa Press gave the event a multi-channel broadcast with a wide publication on Social Networks, the production of various text information, an audiovisual piece, the distribution of images to televisions and a podcast, which can be found at:

https://www.europapress.es/temas/conferencia-sobre-el-futuro-de-europa/

https://www.europapress.tv/politica/640195/1/andalucia-pide-estrategia-nacional-inmigracion

https://www.europapress.es/podcasts/desayunos-informativos/64-futuro-manos-inmigracion-respuesta-europea/

Europa Press thanks the speakers and attendees for their participation in the event and encourages citizens to continue contributing with their ideas to the debate on the EU of the future on the platform of the Conference on the Future of Europe https://futureu.europa.eu/