POLITICAL and SOCIAL PARTICIPATION of IMMIGRANTS THROUGH CONSULTATIVE BODIES Community Relations
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
CDMG (99) 21 POLITICAL AND SOCIAL PARTICIPATION OF IMMIGRANTS THROUGH CONSULTATIVE BODIES Community relations POLITICAL AND SOCIAL PARTICIPATION OF IMMIGRANTS THROUGH CONSULTATIVE BODIES Community relations Directorate of Social and Economic Affairs Council of Europe Publishing French Edition : La participation politique et sociale des immigrés à travers des mécanismes de consultation For a full list of titles in this series, please see at the back of the book Council of Europe Publishing F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex ISBN 92-871-3891-5 ©Council of Europe, April 1999 Printed at the Council of Europe Table of contents Foreword.............................................................................................5 Part I : Immigrants’ political and social participation in the integration process (Han Entzinger)..........................................................9 Appendix : Report of the field studies carried out in France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and the United Kingdom (Marieke Blommesteijn and Han Entzinger) ........................................41 Participation of immigrants in European public spheres : models and reflections (Yasemin Soysal)..............................................65 The limits of consultative politics for immigrants and ethnic immigrant minorities (Marco Martiniello).................................77 Part II : Checklist of decisions to be taken into account for a dialogue structure with minorities (Walter Palm)...............................................91 Experiences of the Croatian National Association in the participation of immigrants in Sweden (Diana Vukusic).......................97 Political and social participation of immigrants in Sweden (Eeva Lotta Johansson) .......................................................................101 Role of immigrant organisations on the national level in Norway (Quintino da Fonseca).........................................................................105 Political and social participation of immigrants in Norway (Lise Grette)........................................................................................119 3 Work in the field of the political and social participation of immigrants through consultative bodies in France (Gaye Petek-Salom).............................................................................123 Joint Committee for Consultation between Regional Institutions and Immigrant Communities in the Brussels- Capital Region (Commission mixte de concertation entre les institutions régionales et les populations d’origine étrangère de la région de Bruxelles-capitale) (Bruno Ducoli)....................................................................................127 Regional Centres for the integration of foreigners and persons of foreign origin in the Walloon Region : an institutional model for structured participation in Belgium (Patricia Tarcosz) ...............................................................................131 Political and social participation of immigrants in Germany (Gabriele Erpenbeck) ..........................................................................139 Social and political participation of immigrants in Finland (Daryl Taylor).....................................................................................143 Political and social participation of immigrants in Italy (Vaifra Palanca) .................................................................................151 Political and social participation of immigrants in Switzerland (Francisco Ruiz and Georges Assima) .................................................155 Political and social participation of immigrants in Denmark (Bashy Quraishy) ................................................................................173 Part III Conclusions.........................................................................................183 Final remarks and trends for the future (Han Entzinger).......................187 Appendix 1 : List of speakers .............................................................193 4 Foreword This is one of a series of booklets designed to accompany the report Community and ethnic relation in Europe1, published by the Council of Europe in 1991. By community relations is meant all aspects of the relations between migrants or ethnic groups of immigrant origin and the host society, and the report sets out proposals for a comprehensive approach to community relations policy in the Organisation’s member States.2 On the foundations of its original work in this field, the European Committee on Migration (CDMG) embarked on a project entitled : "The integration of immigrants : towards equal opportunities" (1991 to 1996) and "Tensions and tolerance : building better integrated communities across Europe" (since 1996). These projects aim to promote the exchange of practical experience between people who are attempting, in a variety of different ways and in different fields, to put the community relations approach into practice. The importance of immigrant participation in European societies has been recognised many times by the Council of Europe. Finding ways 1 Available from the Council of Europe under the reference MG-CR (91) 1 final 2 As of December 1996, the 40 member Sates of the Council of Europe were the following : Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom. 5 to promote immigrant participation is one of the major aims of the Community Relations project, which the Council started in the mid 1980s, and which has been on its agenda since then. Participation in decision-making is one very important aspect of immigrant participation in society at large. The 6th Conference of European Ministers responsible for migration affairs, held in Warsaw on 16-18 June 1996, recommended that the subject of political participation and other participation in decision-making by immigrants should receive immediate attention. This is why the Specialist Group on Integration and Community Relations of the CDMG chose it as the theme of the 1997 annual seminar . The present booklet is the outcome of this seminar held in November 1997 on the Political Participation of Immigrants through Consultative Bodies. Even though it dealt with a variety of forms of immigrant political and social participation (including citizenship and voting rights), its main focus was on "Political and Social Participation of Immigrants through Consultative Bodies". The seminar was attended by about 60 experts, some representing their governments, and others as members of immigrant communities or consultative bodies, or coming from the academic world. The seminar was chaired by Ms Mary Coussey (United Kingdom). Professor Maria Beatriz Rocha-Trindade (Portugal) was the Co-chair. The consultant, Professor Han Entzinger (Utrecht University), played a leading part in the preparation of the meeting and of this booklet. The full list of speakers and projects is given at the end of the booklet and this will enable readers, who so wish, to make contact with those responsible for the various initiatives. This publication includes all papers and documents that have been prepared for the seminar. It consists of three parts. Part I includes three academic contributions on different aspects of political and social participation of immigrants. The first contribution is by 6 Professor Han Entzinger, the consultant to this project. It was written as a background paper and discussed at the seminar. It contains an overview of some of the relevant literature as well as the reports of short field studies carried out by Ms Marieke Blommesteijn and the consultant in six European countries : France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and the United Kingdom. The other two academic contributions were presented as lectures at the seminar. They are by Dr.Yasemin Soysal (European University Institute, Florence) and by Dr. Marco Martiniello (University of Liège). Part II of this publication includes information of a more practical nature on consultative structures in a number of member States, as presented to the participants in the seminar. Part III contains the conclusions of the seminar, as discussed and adopted by the participants at the end of the third day. At the end of the publication the consultant to this project, Han Entzinger, makes some brief final remarks. A distinction has been made between individual and group participation of immigrants. When the immigrant share in the population is increasing, the debate on naturalisation and voting rights tends to be intensified. Consultation constitutes one possible forms of group participation. Consultative mechanisms have a practical as well as a symbolic value : they can be an important signal that immigrants and minorities are taken seriously. Finally, I should like to take this opportunity of thanking the consultant and all those, who took part in the meeting and I should like to express my special gratitude to those of the participants whose written contributions are summarised here. Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni Deputy Director Directorate of Social and Economic Affairs N.B. The views expressed in this book are those of