I am French and have been living in Spain for almost two decades. I am a migrant, a foreigner, but I have been extremely lucky to have the support of a legal framework that has allowed me to settle, to study, to work, to access the same rights and public services as any Spanish citizen.

Before me, my maternal grandparents also migrated, from impoverished rural Portugal in the 1950s, to a France in full economic expansion after World War II. As did my paternal great-grandparents, who fled fascist Italy in the 1920s. They did not have as many opportunities, neither in their migratory route, nor in their reception, nor in their integration. I am constantly reminded of the importance of institutionality and public policies that, from the territorial space, need to be built and shared with others to improve systems.  

Migration is an opportunity and cooperation is an axis for articulating societies and institutions in countries of origin, destination and transit. This decentralised cooperation is a privileged space to contribute to the construction of operational responses to the challenges of human mobility. 

There are three elements that seem to me to be particularly important when analysing the reality of migration. These are the multidimensionality of the phenomenon; the need to move away from linear analytical frameworks that associate, for example, economic development in countries of origin with the reduction of migratory movements; and, finally, the importance of policy coherence. 

In addition, there is another perspective that I would like to raise: the importance of public technical cooperation, based on the experience of public management, particularly at the territorial level. 

I believe that it is particularly relevant to address responses to the challenges of mobility from the territorial level because it is the space of proximity, where attention to migrants, their protection, their inclusion, where diasporas working with countries of origin meet, where public services are connected, where education and training for employment are developed.

In this sense, the role of decentralised cooperation makes a lot of sense, as it can weave around its territorial added value. In other words, local and regional authorities can focus their cooperation on those areas of public management where they have the greatest expertise or experience.

Peggy Martinello. Director of Public Administration and Social Affairs at FIIAPP

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