The Astalli Center in collaboration with the Pontifical Gregorian University – Faculty of Social Sciences presents the training course “Europe’s route: towards zero asylum – Challenges and scenarios of European migration policy”.
“We are going through bitter months – years now. We counted on the fact that Europe, founded on a promise of peace, would no longer experience wars. On the borders of Europe, however, or rather we must say within her living space, terrible wars are shedding more blood and destroying every obstacle placed to protect the dignity of human beings. We must interrupt the dramatic cycle of terrorism, of violence, of oppression, which feeds on itself and would like to perpetuate itself,” President Mattarella underlined in a passage of his speech in Cassino on the 80th anniversary of the destruction of the city.
In June 2024, universal suffrage elections for the European Parliament will be held for the tenth time. The current one is a very delicate historical phase for the European Union: the war in Ukraine, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the crisis in the Red Sea, the after-effects of the Covid 19 pandemic, the turbulence of the financial markets, the environmental crisis and the difficulties of the energy transition, the accentuation of territorial imbalances between North and South and East and West, the crisis of global balance and the affirmation of neo-nationalist populist movements produce growing difficulties in relations between member states and between them and the the European Union, questioning its own institutional architecture, if not also its common principles and values.
What happened to the Europe conceived by its founding fathers? That community founded on freedom, democracy, equality and the rule of law, promoting peace and stability? When it comes to asylum, the European Union does not seem to find a balance that respects the values on which it is based. Between failed reforms, failed practical attempts to address the problem of deaths at sea, halfway between rescue and control actions, border externalization agreements, in the gray area left by an overall inefficient system, the individual EU member states are adopting individual policies to deal with migratory flows, putting national interests ahead of requests for solidarity, with the sole result of making access procedures for migrants more difficult and tortuous. Italy is fully included among these, as demonstrated by the “Code of Conduct” for ships of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the agreement with Albania.
What will Europe be like from 2024? More weapons, fewer migrants and fewer green policies: in view of the June vote, these seem to be the emerging outlines of a new Europe oriented above all to defend itself.
Course program
I meeting – Tuesday 7 May – 5.30pm-7.00pm
- The evolution of the European dream: a look at the past to rethink Europe
On 27 December 2023, with the death of Jacques Delors, president of the European Commission from 1985 to 1995, a page in European history closed. Today it is time to take a critical assessment of that period and draw lessons for the future, a few months before the European elections. How was the European dream born and why? Has today’s Europe betrayed that dream, its founding principles and values?
One of the main challenges facing the continent is, unfortunately, the emergence of populism, radicalism, xenophobia and Europhobia. Who is afraid of Europe: the citizens who live in it, some of the governments that make it up and who call for a Europe of nations, the migrants? What are the causes of this phenomenon?
A step considered essential by many in light of the events of recent years, in particular with the pandemic and foreign policy issues, and the prospect of the imminent entry of other countries into the Union is the revision of the European Treaties. What will the Europe that awaits us be like? Will it still be the Europe of rights and democracy or will it be a Europe of nationalism, a “fortress” Europe?
Interventions: Giovanni Maria Flick – President emeritus of the Constitutional Court; P. Camillo Ripamonti – President Centro Astalli
II meeting – Tuesday 14 May – 5.30pm-7.00pm
- Europe put to the test of elections: the challenges in the international scenario
In 2024, more than half of the world’s population will be called to vote and the electoral results will have an impact on the international context from a political and economic point of view. For Europe, the impact will be had not only in the individual member states but also in the various territories in which they have important interests, especially the African continent.
In this scenario, will the promotion of sustainable and long-lasting development through a “global and non-predatory” approach towards Africa, as envisaged for example by the Mattei Plan, really be achievable?
The umpteenth impoverishment suffered by Africa is taking place, in fact, under the guise of migrating “with unhappiness, extreme precariousness and humiliation” for young people, as underlined by Moussa Faki Mahamat, President of the African Union Commission, on the occasion of the Italy – Africa summit at the end of January.
Is it perhaps time to rethink the migration phenomenon from a different perspective, that of countries “emptied of their resources”, not only material but also human, and not with a security perspective?
Interventions: Angela Mauro – journalist, Brussels correspondent for Huffington Post
III meeting – Tuesday 21 May – 5.30pm-7.00pm
- Europe’s transition between migration and climate change
The ecological transition could be one of the solutions to manage migration in the Mediterranean, promising a more liveable climate, greener capitalism and general economic, political and social stability, all conditions necessary to offer greater possibilities for people to be free to choose whether migrate or stay, as Pope Francis also says.
In fact, there are thousands of displaced people and environmental migrants, numbers destined to increase over the next few years. Inhabitants of countries that have not directly contributed to pollution, and of territories plundered of the raw materials that fueled the economies of industrialized countries, “suffer” climate change and the lack of effects of the ecological transition.
In Europe, the recent trend of reducing the priorities of European climate and environmental policy will prevail and what impact will this decision have in particular in countries where climate change is already showing its most catastrophic consequences, such as Africa and Asia from which it comes most of humanity on the run?
Interventions: being defined
The meetings will be held at the Pontifical Gregorian University, in Piazza della Pilotta 4 – Rome.
The course is free. A certificate of participation will be issued.
To take part in the meetings you must register by filling out the online registration form.
Reservations while places last.
For information: [email protected] – 06 69925099
Photo: Kristóf Hölvényi/Jesuit Refugee Service
Tags: Training Europes route direction asylum
