European cities are the most attractive destinations for refugees from Ukraine. As of mid-May, more than 700,000 individuals have arrived in cities in Germany alone. Accommodating their immediate housing and health care needs, not to mention integrating them into the labor market and society, is a vast and complicated task. Established initiatives like the Cities of Safe Harbor Alliance are indicative of the efforts of European cities to show leadership. Such initiatives have seen cities fight to gain greater competencies and resources – as well as develop local solutions like community sponsoring or algorithm-based resettlement to match refugees and municipalities.
Together with our panelists, we will discuss how well equipped and prepared European cities are to handle large-scale displacement from Ukraine. We will ask to what extent city preparedness and multi-level cooperation have improved based on lessons learned from both the migration crisis of 2015/2016 and the COVID-19 pandemic – and whether those lessons are applicable to the current situation. We will also try to anticipate future challenges by assessing which tools, resources, and partnerships cities need if they are to increase their capacity to act on migration and integration. We will look at innovative approaches that are currently being tested in Europe and evaluate the role that the EU can and should play.
Speakers:
Katharina Bamberg, Policy Advisor Migration and Integration, Eurocities
Yulia Loeva, Founder and Advisor, Alliance of Ukrainian Organizations; Head of Event Management, DGAP
Janina Stürner-Siovitz, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Human Rights Erlangen-Nürnberg, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Chair: Anna-Lena Kirch, Research Fellow in the Alfred von Oppenheim Center for European Policy Studies, DGAP
Please register for the event via events@dgap.org. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining it. Participants will be able to ask questions via Zoom’s question and answer function during the discussion. You will find information related to data processing at https://dgap.org/en/zoom.
For any questions, please contact Yulia Loeva (events@dgap.org).