Outline

 

The humanitarian refugee crisis has led to heated debates in most EU countries and at the European level as well as deep concerns among the public at large. Countries in the Mediterranean area have had to deal with an influx of refugees on a local day-to-day manner.

Many believe that the current European crisis is exacerbated by the confusion of short- and long-term policy issues, of asylum and migration regulation, of debates around rights, politics and economics and cannot be solely addressed at the national level.

Scientists, civil society organisations, activists, concerned citizens and policymakers should join forces to bring about a better understanding of migration, both forced and voluntary, of its determinants and consequences for host societies and countries of origin. Such debates provide grounds for evidence-based policymaking and sound practices beyond ideological constructions and discourses that tend to obfuscate debates in the media and political arena today.
Therefore, territorial evidence on the flows of asylum seekers and refugees, their distribution between and within EU countries, regions and cities, impact on socio-economic development as well as information on crisis management and integration is in high demand.

This joint ESPON-Interact conference over two days will focus on:

• migratory flows and integration and will shed light on the distribution of asylum seekers and refugees at regional and urban levels and how has this been changing over time as a result of European and national policy decisions in recent decades. 
• skills and qualifications that refugees possess and how does the influx of refugees impact the recipient countries’ regional and local labour markets and demographic imbalances (especially concerning regions which are facing the challenges of losing population and ageing).
• main challenges and identify good policy responses and the best practices for successful integration of refugees into the local communities, societies and labour markets at regional and local levels. It will indicate the kind of support they need and evaluate the success of previous integration measures and how to improve the use of existing funding opportunities such as Cohesion Policy and Interreg projects.

ESPON and Interact, therefore consider this joint conference as a means of both informing participants of the state of the art of current research and empirical knowledge and to take advantage of the current knowledge of third-sector organisations and practitioners to better focus the relevance of interventions and projects on the ground.

 

Practical details and venue are available in the Programme of the conference, more information is also available at ESPON website: https://www.espon.eu/athens

 

For any query or information please contact with Ivano Magazzu.