MOTION FOR A RECOMMENDATION on the follow-up to the Mediterranean Conference on Population, Migration and Development (Palma de Mallorca, 15-17 October 1996)

Doc. 7691
29 October 1996

MOTION FOR A RECOMMENDATION on the follow-up to the Mediterranean Conference on Population, Migration and Development (Palma de Mallorca, 15-17 October 1996)

presented by Mrs AGUIAR and others

This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only the members who have signed it

1. Although the sheer numbers of migrants arriving on the northern shores of the Mediterranean have abated as a result of the restrictions imposed by most European states, the pressure on our shores will not subside. This pressure is increasingly exerted through illegal channels, often with tragic results.

2. Migration pressures stem in large part from the widening gap in material welfare between the countries south and north of the Mediterranean. The gap must therefore be reduced by contributing more to the long-term economic development of the countries on the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean and beyond.

3. Reducing the welfare gap also means slowing population growth in the countries along the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean. According to the predictions, while there is now a population gap of some 170 million between the north and the south, the difference will have increased to 280 million by the year 2025.

4. However, economic and demographic imbalances are not the only factors behind migration pressures. Among other reasons why migrants and refugees leave their countries are political instability, social and religious conflict, the degradation of the environment, deteriorating health care, and human rights abuses.

5. The Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers:

i. support the establishment of a process of institutional concertation between the countries in the Mediterranean Basin;

ii. support the creation of an observatory to furnish comparative statistical data on demographic trends in the Mediterranean region;

iii. facilitate the strengthening of links between the many partners concerned at local, national and international levels;

iv. invite the member states:

a. to redouble their efforts to provide economic aid to the countries of the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean, designed to create employment;

b. to support reforms in the countries of the South and East of the Mediterranean in the areas of education, training, health, the condition of women, the environment and human rights.

Signed: 1

Aguiar, Portugal, LDR

Akselsen, Norway, SOC

Atkinson, United Kingdom, EDG

Billing, Sweden, EDG

Brasseur, Luxembourg, LDR

Clerfayt, Belgium, LDR

Dinçer, Turkey, SOC

Fehr, Switzerland, LDR

Filimonov, Russia, UEL

Fuhrmann, Austria, SOC

Golu, Romania, SOC

Gross, Switzerland, SOC

Hunt, United Kingdom, EDG

Jacquat, France, LDR

I.B. Johansson, Sweden, SOC

Karas, Poland, LDR

Kirkhill, United Kingdom, SOC

Priedkalns, Latvia, EDG

Sungur, Turkey, EDG

1 ¹ SOC : Socialist Group

EPP : Group of the European People's Party

EDG : European Democratic Group

LDR : Liberal, Democratic and Reformers Group

UEL : Group of the Unified European Left