News Deeply | 13.06.2018
Local authorities are often responsible for supporting refugees, but excluded from resources and policymaking. We talk to Frederic Vallier, secretary-general of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions, about why cities should have a seat at the table.
When Italy’s hard-line new interior minister, Matteo Salvini, declared Italy’s ports closed to migrant rescue boats – effectively stranding 629 people at sea – the city of Palermo rebelled. Mayor Leoluca Orlando said he was ready to accept the MS Aquarius at the Sicilian capital’s port, but without the help of the Italian coast guard it was impossible for him to do so.
The conflict between the mayors of southern Italian cities and the national government, as well as recent disputes in Paris between Mayor Anne Hidalgo and President Emmanuel Macron over who is responsible for that city’s ever-shifting migrant camps, are only the latest manifestation of long-building tensions between European cities and nation-states over what to do about refugee populations.