Sunday

3rd Dec 2023

Opinion

Europe must empower its cities to respond to refugee crisis

  • Women and children are living in unfathomably harsh winter conditions on the Greek islands, in Serbia and on the Hungarian border. (Photo: UNHCR / D. Kashavelov)

The refugee crisis is one we must address in our cities. Many cities around Europe have become hubs for thousands of people seeking international protection.

Long before Germany opened its borders in September 2015, ahead of the height of the crisis, cities like Barcelona have been calling for a more constructive and humanitarian response.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Through Eurocities we have a strong and united voice. Barcelona is among the 139 major European cities calling on the EU institutions for greater solidarity and a more humanitarian response to the crisis.

On World Refugee Day last year, we urged EU and national leaders to learn the lessons of the past and uphold European values of solidarity, tolerance and dignity. In October 2016 we launched Solidarity Cities, an initiative enabling cities to work together on refugee reception and integration.

We continually call for cities to be formally recognised as points of arrival, transit hubs and destinations for refugees in Europe.

As discussions were taking place on the EU-Turkey deal last spring and EU member states along the ‘Balkan road’ were attempting to seal off their borders to refugees, city leaders in Greece and the Balkans issued a stark warning: close the borders and cities will become open prisons.

Close them and refugees making their way to northern and western Europe will be stuck in dire and inhumane conditions with no infrastructure in place for their reception and integration.

They warned us and they were right. Families waiting for asylum claims to be processed at Europe’s borders are enduring freezing conditions.

Many of these are women and children, living in unfathomably harsh winter conditions on the Greek islands, in Serbia and on the Hungarian border.

Europe must settle more refugees

Meanwhile, the EU institutions tell us their deal has helped stem the arrival of migrants by sea from Turkey. Yet the reality is fewer than 9,000 of the 160,000 refugees have so far been relocated.

There simply is no excuse for this humanitarian disaster.

People are struggling for survival as we watch on. More than 10,000 people are currently seeking international protection in Europe.

If we fail to take real and effective measures now, the number of victims will continue to grow.

Europe needs to act urgently to ensure refugees’ basic human rights are being respected; we can’t ignore what is stated in every international and European convention.

As local politicians, we are under pressure from many of our citizens to deliver a response that is in line with European values of solidarity and responsibility.

I am continually overwhelmed by the actions in our local communities; the way civil society, volunteer organisations and local businesses have mobilised to do something about the crisis.

They are rightly outraged, and they are acting. We must act too.

Cities must be empowered

This is why the EU and member states need to empower European cities. We have shown we are ready for the challenge, but we need help to continue our good work.

As it is, cities cannot directly access EU funding for the reception and integration of refugees.

This needs to change: we can’t afford to wait for funding to trickle down through national authorities while refugees are desperately seeking shelter in our cities.

We also know from our colleagues across the Eurocities network that many more cities are willing and ready to welcome refugees.

Allowing us to set up a city-to-city relocation scheme would be a positive way to take the burden off Greek and Italian cities and distribute refugees to other cities that have the capacity to receive and integrate them.

We need less talk and more action.

Europe must mobilise the necessary resources to end the Mediterranean Sea crisis once and for all.

Barcelona, together with other european cities, is determined to help solving this crisis with no more delay.

We need Europe to give us the power to do so.

We are looking forward to express this message from the cities to Commissioners Cretu and Avramopoulos at a meeting in Amsterdam on 7 February.

Laia Ortiz is Barcelona deputy mayor for social rights and chair of the Eurocities Social Affairs Forum.

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author's, not those of EUobserver.

Interview

Refusing refugees should cost EU funds, MEP says

Swedish liberal MEP Cecilia Wikstroem, the European Parliament's negotiator on asylum reform, says it is too complicated to fine member states for not taking refugees and will instead look for ways to withhold their EU funds instead.

Computer to make EU asylum decisions

The EU commission has presented sweeping reforms of the "Dublin" asylum regulation that include deferring the most painful decisions to a computer in Malta.

Stakeholder

Cities united by love of good food

Cooperation between cities can build healthier communities and help kick-start the local economy. The URBACT programme enables EU cities to develop solutions through networking, capacity-building and knowledge-transfer activities.

'Pay or okay?' — Facebook & Instagram vs the EU

Since last week, Mark Zuckerberg's Meta corporation is forcing its European users to either accept their intrusive privacy practices — or pay €156 per year to access Facebook and Instagram without tracking advertising.

My experience trying to negotiate with Uber

After working with people in unusual employment situations for a decade, I thought I had seen it all as a union organiser. Then I began dealing with Uber.

Latest News

  1. Israel's EU ambassador: 'No clean way to do this operation'
  2. Brussels denies having no 'concern' on Spain's amnesty law
  3. Dubai's COP28 — a view from the ground
  4. Germany moves to criminalise NGO search-and-rescue missions
  5. Israel recalls ambassador to Spain in new diplomatic spat
  6. Migrant return bill 'obstructed' as EU states mull new position
  7. Paris and Berlin key to including rape in gender-violence directive
  8. What are the big money debates at COP28 UN climate summit?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  3. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  4. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?
  5. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  6. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  3. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  4. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  6. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us