CESI

CESI Symposium: Civil Service and Migration

9.4 percent of the European population comprises migrants. In Vienna, the venue for the CESI conference on the topic of “Public Service and Integration of Migrants in the European Union”, the proportion of the population with a migration background is 38 percent. With this in mind, the location was a good choice for viewing the topic from all sides. With more than 20 speakers, who came to the city on the Danube from all regions of Europe on 29th to 30th September, the CESI was able to handle a dense and diverse range, which was absolutely suited both to revealing the numerous facets of the topic and the various solutions practised in Europe.

Fritz Neugebauer CESI-President Fritz Neugebauer
© Foto: Andi Bruckner, www.andibruckner.com

In his introduction, Wilhelm Gloss, President of the CESI Europe Academy, set the direction: “The CESI conference pursues the objective of successful integration of migrants, which means bringing about their participation in political, cultural and economic life.“ Integration is a cross-sectional discipline, which must be seen as a task for society as a whole and which concerns all state bodies.

In order to actively structure integration, it is essential to continue to provide funding in the future. It cannot be that the failure of financial capitalism massively limits the future viability of European societies, said CESI-President Fritz Neugebauer. Migration is a fact. “In times of demographic change, it would be naïve to think we can forego migration. Immigrants bring important stimuli for societies and not least for the qualified labour market,” Neugebauer said. Only supposed cost-cutting constraints would make a problem out of an opportunity.

CESI General Secretary Helmut Müllers confirmed that the CESI will vigorously campaign for active integration within the EU. “Migration offers potential for Europe. It is an opportunity for a future-oriented, innovative and social European society,“ the General Secretary said. Here, integration must be considered at European level and include all spheres of life, in order to achieve social cohesion and not exclusion. “Social participation is the key to integration,” Müllers said.

Group Picture from left to right: CESI Europe Academy President Wilhelm Gloss, CESI General Secretary Helmut Müllers, SOC chairman Klaus Dauderstädt
© Foto: Andi Bruckner, www.andibruckner.com

Two-Sided Issue
The participants agreed that the topic of migration and the civil service has to be approached from two sides. On the one hand, migration must be recognised as a new challenge for public sector workers, which presents new challenges in terms of both social and linguistic competence. This must be given more intensive consideration both in training and development and in the assessment of the task to be performed here.

Furthermore, more than it has before, migration offers the opportunity to resolve tangible demographic problems in a win-win situation, with and not against migrants. Here, the civil service serves as a catalyst, which supports and promotes integration into society but which can also ensure the resolution of emerging recruitment problems. In the light of this, the guideline of recruiting 20 percent of trainees within the civil service in Hamburg from the migrant sector in future must been seen less as a social project than as a specific, demographic future project.

Paradigm Shift
Instead of “the boat is full”, there needs to be a “battle for the best minds” in future. This was also noted by the Austrian Secretary of State for Integration in the Federal Ministry for the Interior, Sebastian Kurz. This paradigm shift can be achieved only with and through a functioning civil service.

The specific content of the proposed solutions for integration work in the different countries proved to be as diverse as the conference attendees were united in political cause research. In the course of the conference, it quickly became clear that integration represents a process for which there is no ideal way. The view of different projects in Germany, Italy, Portugal and Luxembourg emphasised: to aggressively tackle migration, a consistent political will is needed but there is no standard solution.

Klaus Dauderstädt, chairman of the CESI social committee SOC, summarised the results of the conference on the second day. On the one hand, the present problems need to be clearly identified; on the other hand, clear requirements need to be identified from the perspective of the civil service. This would have to be formulated with courage. “Let us take up this challenge without forgetting our tradition of shaping the future in liberal societies with equal opportunities for all citizens. As representatives of the unions, we can contribute substantially to this by lobbying politics, as partners in wage agreements, and through participative management,“ Dauderstädt said. According to Dauderstädt, successful integration can be achieved only if the civil services are also efficient. The unions are therefore called to take an unequivocal political stand.

More information about the conference as well as speeches and presentations can be found on the web pages of the CESI symposium: www.cesi.org/migration/en.