Call for a Second EU Migration Pact: Revitalizing Rural Communities via Refugee Resettlement!

This week’s European Commission proposal for a “pact on migration and asylum” focuses mostly on stemming irregular migration at EU borders. It thus largely forgets to address Europe’s share in responsibility for the millions of refugees who cannot show up to ask for asylum there. A second “resettlement pact” is therefore urgently required to relieve pressure from countries like Turkey, Lebanon and many others, which currently take care of an unevenly high number of displaced people. Voluntarily relocating more refugees does not have to be a burden for Europe, it can actually create great synergy.

A strong reduction of the share of agriculture in the economy and a lack of viable job alternatives for young people has left many smaller rural European communities depopulating and aging. To establish a new equilibrium, powerful diversification to non-agricultural activities is required. Meanwhile, Internet-based work options and tele-services offer such potential to stop and reverse rural decline, but without a next generation of people grabbing these opportunities, the current deterioration will continue.

Since 2015, Refival has therefore been exploring the synergy between rural revitalization and refugee integration. As a result, it advocates the interconnection of two groups of people: small rural communities of 500–5,000 inhabitants who are too far from urban areas to commute and refugee families with education deficits who will need about 5 years to adapt and find jobs in Europe.

In order to optimize the refugees’ economic mobility, Refival proposes to apply an EU citizen logic. It means that — after having been supported with education, upskilling and cultural integration — people can freely move upon finding employment anywhere in Europe. However, this also implies that investing in the refugees’ adaptation should be collectively funded by all EU member states and not financed by those who supply the initial “incubation” services.

With small rural communities possessing ample cultural interaction capacity and low integration cost, there is a strong mutually beneficial situation to be achieved by receiving funding to welcome refugees and offering them the chance to participate in society. This will not only revitalize the local rural infrastructure for all its inhabitants — reestablishing economic and social sustainability — but also give refugees a new start in life.

If you want to become part of this initiative, please contact me!