Hospitality

As many EU countries fail to provide a comprehensive refugee policy, local actors take matters into their own hands.

France’s experience with immigration teaches us that unless we provide real equality, including political and social rights, we will always struggle as a society to cope with our changing demographics. For this to happen, we need to step out of our national context and see this as an issue that needs European level and global attention. This includes looking at environmental and social problems from a global perspective.

‘Hospitality’ in the traditional sense is too limited a concept when discussing our relationship with Europe’s migrant communities. Instead what we need is a language that recognises all groups as equal partners striving for a shared identity.

The European Union has always been a project that marries differing perspectives – the pursuit of peace and borders open to people, goods and ideas. However the steady evolution of this project has been disrupted by the economic crisis, which has led to a rise of xenophobic, nationalist thoughts. For Jean Lambert, Europe must now confront the idea of ‘us’ versus ‘them’ that exists and work towards creating a truly hospitable EU.