news REGION MAGAZINE OF THE INSTITUTE OF THE REGIONS OF EUROPE • 38 / SEPTEMBER 2015 Feature: Broadband expert conference on future communication infrastructure 3 António Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees on the burning issue of displaced persons 5 Broadband Networks: Putting data on highways instead of man 11 Industrial Heritage: New creative spaces for cultural and economic development 10 years IRE 13 10th anniversary of the IRE Politics and business meet to celebrate Ideas, 15 CoR adopted opinion on European Union‘s enlargement Visions, strategy 17 Regional elections: Activities facts & analysis FOCUS opinion & comment vement with some refugees, as I mentioned, in the Cen- cially for people in need of protection. That is related to tral Mediterranean. Of course we have seen the marine resettlement opportunities; that is linked to humanita- rescues of last year and then all the difficulties of the rian admissions, and obviously two countries in Euro- beginning of the year, but finally I believe the European pe have had the biggest burden on that: Germany and Union has increased its capacity to rescue at sea. Now Sweden. lives are being saved in a much more effective way, and that was for us a first priority in any circumstance. Germany and Sweden received last year 43% of the asylum requests in Europe. There is no fair distribution But things are shifting. The arrivals in Greece are now of the situation within the European Union. We need bigger than the arrivals in Italy, and even if we count more legal avenues also in visa policies, in family reu- from the beginning of the year until now, the majority nification programmes, and at the same time we need António of the 150,000 already came to Greece. Greece has no to make sure that a mechanism of responsibility and capacity at all, either of reception or of integration of solidarity is created. Guterres people at the present moment. The reception system of Greece has 1100 spaces. Last weekend, 1900 people But at the same time we need to recognise that the UN High Commissioner came to Greece. This gives you an idea of the chaos that countries of entry have not the capacity to deal with for Refugees exists at the present moment in Greece in relation to such a huge problem. We need to have an effective me- the arrivals in the European Union. chanism of solidarity within the European Union. The 11 July 2015 relocation proposed that was presented was only for © US Mission Geneva, flickr Obviously in this situation, and with the worsening of 40,000, and was also on a voluntary basis. the living conditions of Syrians in the neighbouring countries, 65% of the arrivals to Greece are already Sy- Finally, it would be very important also to address root rians and 85% are from conflict countries, which means causes. We know that the root causes in relation to the prevention of conflict are difficult, but at least in deve- We live in a dangerous world, and one of its symptoms is displacement. It is a symptom but that what we are witnessing is less and less of a migra- lopment cooperation policies a lot can be done. Euro- is also a relevant indicator of broader humanitarian, social, economic, political and security tion movement and more and more progressively a pean development cooperation very rarely takes into problems of our times. We recently published the statistics of 2014, and at the end of last refugee movement. Which of course highlights all the account human mobility. Spain has been quite success- year we had 59.5 million people displaced by conflict in the world. Roughly two thirds were obligations that Europe has in relation to international ful with its policy in relation to Western Africa, in which internally displaced, and one third refugees. Sometimes the internally displaced live much refugee law and in relation to the European legislation a lot of things have been done in order to create the worse lives than refugees because their government, that is supposed to protect them, can in itself. conditions for the populations there to have conditions be part of their problem. The drama is that people coming to Greece then tend to stay and not to be forced to move. But in general I believe the day before yesterday we have reached 150,000 people coming to Europe by to move onwards. The borders are with Bulgaria, and as development cooperation doesn‘t take into account boat. 150,000 people seems – and it is – a meaningful number, but let‘s not forget that we you know Bulgaria has had all the difficulties and pro- human mobility or the prevention of displacement. have today 4 million Syrian refugees, just Syrian refugees, and that a country like Lebanon blems that are well-known, and there is kind of a fence I think that it would be very important to look seriously has one-third of its population, as I mentioned, Syrian or Palestinian. at the Bulgarian border, then the former Yugoslav Repu- blic of Macedonia that also has the vulnerabilities that into what Europe is doing in countries of origin, coun- But in any case, it is an important challenge for Europe. Last year Europe had about 600,000 are known. The next is Serbia and the next is Hungary tries of first asylum, and countries of transit, in order asylum requests. This corresponds more-or-less to 1 per 1000 of the European Union popu- which has just announced the creation of a wall and a to increase there the capacity to absorb populations in lation. Now, think about an island with 1000 people, and if one person comes to that island, certain number of other very restrictive measures. distress, to give them opportunities, and to be able to we cannot say that the island has not the capacity to absorb that person. reduce the flows. Which means that we are going to see, in the months to So the first thing we should have is a sense of proportion of what we are discussing. It‘s a come, a very complex problem of movements of peo- Having said this, it is clear that in relation to conflict huge challenge for Europe, it‘s a meaningful movement of people, but it is not something ple from Turkey to Greece and through the Western Bal- situations the respect for the protection instruments comparable with the impacts that countries like Lebanon or Turkey or Jordan or Cameroon kans, for which I believe Europe needs to be prepared, that international law has established will also need to or Ethiopia or Kenya are having at the present moment. We need to avoid the kind of schi- and Europe needs to have a comprehensive response. be maintained and Europe needs to remain a continent zophrenic discussion that sometimes exists in Europe, namely about migration. of asylum. I think we need a European approach, and a compre- The problem is that we are now witnessing a movement within this displacement into Eu- hensive European approach. First of all, rescue at sea It is my belief that this will happen. There are some rope. It started essentially in the Central Mediterranean, and I would say it started with the needs to be maintained; saving lives remains a key distressing indications of rising xenophobia in some majority of people moving because of economic reasons; it was essentially a migration mo- humanitarian objective that cannot be denied. At the societies and more and more difficulties for societies same time, we need to massively support Italy, Greece, to understand the values of tolerance, of diversity, and and the countries in transit – in between –in order for of the fact that societies will become multi-cultural, them to be able to offer proper conditions of reception multi-ethnic, multi-religious. But at the same time I also and proper conditions of integration in their societies, see a lot of very dedicated organisations in civil socie- COVER: Minister for Europe, Integration and Foreign Af- or at least of transit in a humane perspective. ties, and several political leaders in different European fairs, Sebastian Kurz holding a speech at the 10th anniversary of You can find us on Facebook countries, that are strongly committed to make sure the IRE in Vienna https://www.facebook.com/institut.ire But we also need to do a number of other things. It‘s that Europe remains a continent of asylum, and that Photo: Ashraf Mahmoud (Department of Press and Informati- on, Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs) essential to crack down more effectively on smugglers Europe can have a comprehensive approach to this and traffickers, and what we have been doing until now problem based on a common responsibility, but also a IMPRESSUM Media owner and publisher: Institute of the Regions of Europe, A-5020 Salzburg, Nonntaler Hauptstraße 58, Tel.: +43/662/843288-0, Fax: +43/662/843288- is not enough. But cracking down on smugglers and common solidarity. 5050, www.institut-ire.eu, [email protected] • Editor and layout: printmedia, 5020 Salzburg • Photos: ire, Neumayr, Wikipedia, Schausberger, salzburgerland.com, Tourismus traffickers can only be effective if at the same time we Salzburg GmbH, Salzburg Congress, DomQuartier, Stieglkeller / dreamstime.com • Print: druck.at, A2544 Leobersdorf Source: http://www.unhcr.org/55ba370f9.html, (Excerpts from speech) Insofar as this publication features only personal designations in their gender-specific forms, they relate – insofar as this can be considered with regard to the content – to create more legal avenues to come into Europe, espe- men and women on equal terms.