The Committee of the Regions is the natural partner of the Council of Europe in the field of integration of migrants and our both institutions have clearly a common space of interests to develop in this field. The project DELI has a considerable potential for mobilising the participation of regional and local communities for meeting the challenges of integration, access to job markets and migrant entrepreneurship.
With proactive initiatives such as DELI which aims to integrate migrants into the host society and enhance their contribution to local economies that Europe can benefit fully from the potential of migrants.
The Committee of the Regions has always attached importance to integration issues and the role that cities and regions should play in building a caring and responsible Europe. Integration always involves a specific local context; local and regional authorities share responsibility for the inclusion of migrants in society and the local economy, while creating the conditions for their support in accessing labour markets or self-employed activities. We believe in the added value of our cooperation with the Council of Europe in this regard.