Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
Secretary General Thomas Greminger
2017 OSCE Mediterranean Conference
Opening Remarks
Villa Igiea, 24 October 2017

Mr. Minister,
Excellencies, Colleagues,
Distinguished Participants,

It is a great honour for me to join Foreign Minister Alfano and the Austrian Chairmanship in welcoming you to the 2017 OSCE Mediterranean Conference in the beautiful city of Palermo. Since antiquity, the Mediterranean basin has been a meeting place connecting Asia to Europe, and Europe to Africa. Indeed, Sicily has been at the crossroads of countless movements of peoples that have shaped Mediterranean civilization. This island’s unique heritage, its syncretic culture and arts, its welcoming and diverse people, are a living testament to the ability of Mediterranean societies to continuously renew themselves through an open-ended process of exchange. We should bear in mind this rich history and its lessons in our discussions today.

We meet here at a very uncertain time in the trajectories of both Europe and the Mediterranean. In Europe, many trends point to a weakening of the post-war order that provided successive generations with unparalleled peace and prosperity by closing a dark and ruinous era of nationalistic competition. Meanwhile, the Southern Mediterranean is engulfed by divisions old and new. Despite differences, in both cases there is a risk that polarizing forces – populist-nationalist movements and groups guided by revisionist agendas – will once again prevail over the quest for peace, security and prosperity through co-operation. 

In one of the most dangerous turns in the modern history of our common region, the belief that competition will better deliver than co-operation is rapidly gaining traction. In this polarized and distrustful environment, it has become easier to blame menacing external trends than to honestly face failures in the realms of politics, governance and even culture that have created perceptions of insecurity and decline.

It is particularly regretful that political and popular perceptions have seized upon migration as a threat to security and prosperity. Migration is a phenomenon as old as humankind; historically, it has brought immense documented benefits to the countries that have been open to it. Globalization has intensified migration by making it easier to move, but it is not the trigger – other factors are at its root. Yet in today’s increasingly uncertain environment, we see a growing “migration scare” fed by fears of diminished economic opportunities, declining social welfare, and the dilution of local cultures. As a result, intolerance and xenophobia are returning to the mainstream, which is an exceedingly dangerous trend.

Indeed, the intensification of large-scale, unregulated movements of peoples has created much uneasiness in Europe and beyond. It was not so long ago that Europe was moving toward a future grounded in unity and based on the patient construction of a co-operative order built on open societies and increasingly open borders. Yet today borders are once again being perceived as bulwarks against a threatening external world. In election after election, migration has been used to sow discord within and between our societies. Indeed, migration has become a powerful geopolitical factor that has put international solidarity and the traditional dynamics of co-operation and competition to a formidable test. Against this backdrop, we are here to discuss together – and hopefully together reject – the view that migration is destined to become yet another dividing line cutting across the OSCE area and separating Europe from its neighbours to the South. 

Excellencies,

The OSCE offers a unique multilateral platform for addressing migration in the context of Euro-Mediterranean security.  Building on the seminal Ministerial Council Decision adopted last year in Hamburg, I believe that the OSCE has a clear edge in the field of migration governance, thanks to our capacity to comprehensively address the migration-security nexus. This is a sensitive topic because it can immediately lead to accusations of “securitization” of migration. On the contrary, the OSCE aims to be a platform where the complex but very real connection between migration and security can be constructively discussed in all its relevant dimensions. These include: security of people on the move, whose human rights should be protected at all times; security of both receiving communities and migrants through the promotion of effective integration policies; and the security of states, which need to be able to manage migration instead of being challenged by it.

The OSCE’s expertise, extensive field presence, and partnerships in the Mediterranean enable us to tackle a number of aspects in particular. For example, we can make a regional contribution to protecting the human rights of migrants and promoting appropriate integration policies, with a special focus on vulnerable groups. We can also make a concrete contribution to combatting crime along migration routes, for instance by addressing the connection between migration and human trafficking. And we will continue promoting human rights-compliant, co-operative, and effective approaches to border security – including by engaging more closely with our Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation on this issue. The way out of the false dichotomy between open and closed borders should be well-managed borders – and this requires international and regional co-operation.

We will also continue using our field presences, within existing mandates, to follow security-relevant aspects of large-scale movements of people, for instance in the Western Balkans. 

Furthermore, we want to contribute to the debate on how to address unregulated movements by opening new pathways to regular labour migration. I would argue that the real challenge is not to simply reduce migration. In today’s interdependent world, the goal should be to govern this phenomenon by identifying co-operative and effective approaches capable of transforming people’s drive to move into opportunities for growth and development. This is why we should work on issues such as labour migration policy in a regional and cross-regional perspective. It is also why we fully support and commend the efforts of the UN towards achieving a Global Compact on Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration in 2018. Addressing the migration-security nexus is a first but necessary step towards establishing the foundations of a much needed global migration governance system under the UN.

I take the opportunity to commend the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and its Ad Hoc Committee on Migration for its extensive work on this issue. I welcome its recommendations for greater solidarity and responsibility sharing, for tackling the root causes, and for promoting the positive benefits of migration.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The so-called “migration crisis” once again highlights the Helsinki Final Act’s prescient recognition of the interdependence of European and Mediterranean security. This is not only because large-scale movements of people across the Mediterranean create new security dilemmas for Europe. Rather, migration generates new interdependencies between Europe and its Mediterranean partners, because it forces both to think creatively about how to join forces to achieve common security and bridge the development gap that still divides Europe from its southern neighbours.

I look forward to today’s discussion as the beginning of a new phase – one in which I hope we will move from recrimination to understanding, and away from confrontation towards co-operation. It requires us to develop a more meaningful and equitable dialogue with our Partners in the Mediterranean about the root causes of large-scale migration, including war, poverty, environmental disasters, failures of governance and abuses of human rights. This will better enable us to address - together - the drivers of migration in a way that turns the present emergency into an opportunity for renewed regional co-operation.

In closing, I would like to thank the Austrian OSCE Chairmanship for the valuable work done this year and offer my full support to the 2018 Italian OSCE Chairmanship – which, as Minister Alfano has already noted, will strive to mainstream Mediterranean issues, and consider migration governance as a key means of reviving co-operation not only between North and South but within the OSCE space itself.

Thank you.