Wallmark speech at 29 BSPC

29 BSPCYEARSBaltic Sea Parliamentary ConferenceTHIRD SESSIONREPORTVision 2030: Migration and Integration:Finding Common Solutions Based on MutualInformation and Best PracticesMr. Hans WallmarkChairman of the BSPC Working Group on Migration & Integration, SwedenDear President of the BSCP,Dear Colleagues,Ladies and Gentlemen,First of all, I would like to thank Valerijus, the Lithuanian team and Bodo for all your efforts inpreparing this conference. I am very glad that despite the corona pandemic - when nothing is asit used to be - the traditional discussion and debate with friends from around the Baltic Sea stilltakes place in the end of August – even if it is in a slightly different format this time.The BSPC Working Group on Migration and Integration was launched by the 26th BSPC inHamburg on 5 September 2017. For the past three years the Working Group has had engagingdiscussions, listened to a number of presentations from experts and exchanged best practiceexamples with each other.During this time a scientific analysis has been conducted by the Migration Institute of Finlandand the dialogue with the Governments on the subject has continued and been extended. We havefinalized two interim reports, a final report and several recommendations to our governments. Ourwork has now come to an end.The aim of the Working Group has been to coordinate and cooperate, to the extent possible, whilerespecting the fact that migration and integration are areas of national legal competence. Each andevery member of the BSPC also has different national priorities, traditions, migration realities andconditions to further take into account when formulating our individual approaches.This has been one of the strengths of the Working Group; by sharing best practices and ourdifferent perspectives on the topic, we have been able to learn from each other.This is also one of the main conclusions stated in the final report - to continue to disseminate andshare best practices regarding, for example support employment and integration of certain groupsof migrants. We need to acknowledge the multifaceted character of integration, including thelabour market, language, social relationships and cultural accommodation. In all of these areas canwe, continue to learn from each other.During the past years the Working Group has met with several actors working with migrationand integration in the Baltic Sea Region, many of them parts of the civil society. Anotherrecommendation of the Working Group is therefore, to acknowledge the importance of civilsociety and NGO’s in facilitating integration. Sports associations are one example of organisationsthat play an important, unifying role in integration by helping people to get introduced to thesociety, activated, and bringing new groups of people together.Other recommendations of the Working group include striving for multinational cooperation andcoordination in order to balance undesirable developments such as labour shortages and laboursurpluses and to acknowledge the concept of three-way integration in legislation and policies.Coming back to the aim of the Working Group, we also recommend the BSCP governments to –as best possible given the fact that we need to take the individual conditions into account - aspireto harmonize the practices concerning returns, processing of asylum applications, and receptionstandard facilities provided for minor asylum applicants, while taking into account both nationaland human’s rights considerations.The Working Group would also like to point to the importance of promotinggood relations within society and to promote diversity.Since the refugee crisis in 2015 and the shared – but various – challenges it created in our region,the issue of migration and integration has been one of the key political topics in almost all countriesin the Baltic Sea Region.Now we are dealing with another crisis – COVID-19. Due to the pandemic the last meeting ofthe Working Group, scheduled on the Åland Islands in April this year, had to be cancelled. TheWorking Group has therefore not been having the chance to discuss the effects of the pandemic indetail but has still been able to take the pandemic into consideration when discussing and issuingrecommendations.Being aware of a new reality due to the pandemic, the Working Group urges that the issue ofmigration and integration continues to be given high priority. We need to maintain and furtherdevelop, the institutions and projects that have been set up in many countries in the Baltic SeaRegion as a result of the sharp increase in refugee numbers in 2015 and 2016 and which havemade a decisive contribution to improved integration, in order to better respond to future needsin this area.We also need to maintain and extend the support for local authorities in this task, because inthe long term, they bear the main responsibility in the context of sustainable integration andimplementation of long-term integration measures.And once again, we need to continue to bring up and highlight successful examples of best practicesin other Baltic Sea countries, provided that they can be integrated into the respective legal andstructural framework. Because this is what we can do best - we learn from each other.One person that I have learned a lot from during this Working Group is Carola Veit, the ViceChair of the Working Group. Thank you, for your excellent work as Vice Chair, your dedicationto the task of the Working Group and our fruitful cooperation.I would also like to thank my fellow colleague Pyry Niemi, who has taken my seat in myabsence.Many thanks to the Parliaments that have shown great hospitality when hosting the meetingsof the Working Group – Hamburg, Denmark, Schleswig-Holstein, Kaliningrad, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany and - even though we didn’t make it this time – the Åland Islands.Thanks to all the experts attending the meetings, as well as the secretariats of the Parliamentsand the Secretary-General, who have supported the work of the Group with the highest levels ofcommitment.Last, but not least, I would like to thank all the members of the Working Group for your high-quality contributions, the intense discussions and the harmonious atmosphere. This WorkingGroup has truly shown that the BSPC is an arena for engaging discussions and cooperation, evenin an area that is rather politically sensitive in its nature.This is the strength of the BSPC; that it is possible to have open arenas for dialogue despitedifferences of opinion between members.I am very proud to have had the honour of being the Chair of this Working Group. Thank youvery much for your attention and I wish you all a very successful conference!