Europe Programme - [11/10/2006]

“Spain and Italy Should Co-operate to Face Immigration”

Manuel Marín, President of the Chamber of Deputies, stated in the Spain-Italy Dialogue Forum in Verona that the greatest problem Europe has is immigration policy in the Mediterranean. Marín made this declaration on the second, and last, day of this Forum, organised by the CIDOB Foundation and AREL (Agency for Research and Legislation), and which had the participation of the Spanish and Italian Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Miguel Ángel Moratinos and Massimo D’Alema; the President of the Italian Senate, Franco Marini; the President of the CIDOB Foundation, Narcís Serra; and the Secretary-General of AREL, Enrico Letta, among others. (Consult programme) (pdf 230kB)

The President of the Spanish Congress, who was in charge of bringing together the proposals of the participants in the Forum, asserted that Italy and Spain need to make an effort to increase co-operation on immigration. “Europe has been enlarged, but one must be realistic, it is still going to take a lot to reach a common policy on immigration.” In addition, Marín warned of the prediction of a massive growth in the African population. “In fifteen or twenty years, Africa could reach 1,200 or 1,300 million inhabitants. Either income and wealth is transferred there, or they will come here.”

Marin’s Italian counterpart, Franco Marini, proposed a revision of the European Union’s action priorities. “It is time that Europe confront political issues and not just economic ones.” The President of the Italian Senate blamed the bad times that the EU is going through on the lack of political leadership in Europe. Miguel Ángel Moratinos, for his part, announced that “in a short time, Italy and Spain will present a concrete initiative to face up to the tragic and painful situation the Middle East is experiencing”. The Minister of Foreign Affairs also announced that the two countries organising the Forum would soon present their European partners with an initiative to make the European Union commit itself more to Africa. In addition, Moratinos reiterated Spain’s support for Turkey’s accession to the European Union, emphasising that “the Government shares the report published by the European Commission”. Finally, the Minister warned of the ever greater presence of China on the African continent and stated that “if Europe does not increase its commitment, it could lose its influence in favour of the Asian giant”.

For his part, Massimo D’Alema stated that he and Moratinos share the idea of proposing “an international conference on Afghanistan, which would relaunch an effective strategy in an area in which the situation of insecurity increases every day”. The Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs indicated that the international presence in this Asian country “is necessary, but it is not enough” and that “more policy, more economic commitment and more involvement of the countries of the region and on the border are necessary”.

The Spain-Italy Dialogue Forum brings together representatives from civil society, in an annual encounter which has been celebrated on an alternating basis in each country since 1999. Verona was the city elected for the 7th Forum, following such cities as Genoa, Barcelona, Rome, Valencia, Milan and Jaén-Granada. The Forum, which, every year, brings together high-level representatives of the political, business and academic worlds, was organised round three formal discussion groups, two devoted to political issues and the other to economic ones, all of which are related with the interests of Italy and Spain within the framework of European construction.