migrest project

The local and regional authorities situated in the cross border areas are directly and rapidly affected by the EU enlargement process and its impacts. The project overview is to provide cross border institutions with tools for managing the impact of the increased migration fows, considering both their administrative effects and the need for supporting the economic and social insertion of the workers coming from regions in the candidate countries.

The involved cross border regions will be Veneto (Regione del Veneto) and Kentriki Makedonia (Municipality of Thessaloniki), while the other EU partners are located in Veneto (7 partners). The project also foresees the participation of 3 partners from the candidate countries (2 from Romania, 1 from Poland).

Migrest Project Objectives

The project overall objective is to provide cross border authorities with those necessary practical tools for managing the impact originated by the EU enlargement process, both at social and economic level.

•  supply cross border regions public administrations information on the enlargement process and its impact, as well as of adequate skills for managing and “driving” this process in their respective territories;

•  improving the information access, which means creating new specific tools to inform the cross border authorities about the aspects related to the enlargement. Thanks to these tools, cross border authorities will be better prepared to identify the risks and the opportuities related to enlargement issues, particularly to the migration flows;

•  developing strategies and qualifications, which means assisting cross border authorities in developing strategies and actions that will provide solutions to the management of the migration flows, including measures for staff qualification;

•  stimulating the cross border cooperation at institutional and administrative level, which means promoting a network between the cross border auhtorities and also between them and those of the candidate countries, selected for participating in the project.

The creation of the professional figure of the Migration Officer (MO) will be the key element to allow cross border authorities to achieve this goal.

The first beneficiaries of the project will be public officers, administrators, decision-makers, experts working for the institutions that are partners in the project. Indirect beneficiaries, taking advantage of the results of the project but not involved in the project, will be training centres, employment service centres, immigrants and the civil society in which they should be integrated, and finally the SMEs

Project Activities

_ Workshops on exchange of experiences about the problems of the migration flows and studies to draft ad-hoc strategies.

_ The Migration Officers (MOs):

• selection and training of the MOs.
• technical assistance of the MOs.

_ Production of a final Guide.

_ Final networking conference in Italy.

The project is foreseen to last 18 months.

Migrest project complete version.