Cities rising: European municipalities and the refugee surge.

• Author: Davis, Martha F.
• Position: Symposium on the Refugee Crisis

1. Introduction

   The Oresund region is a transnational metropolitan area that embraces Skane in southern Sweden and the Zealand region of Denmark. (1) The two countries of the Oresund are linked across the narrow Oresund strait by an iconic bridge connecting Copenhagen, the Danish capital city, with Malmo, Sweden's third largest city. (2)

   This international region has often been identified with the successes of the European Union. (3) In the sixteen years since it was built, the Oresund Bridge has transformed the area, creating an unprecedented ease of travel between Sweden and Denmark. (4) Cities in the region have worked across national borders, spending large sums of money to brand it as a single metropolitan unit. (5) Many of the area's workers live in Malmo and commute across the bridge to Copenhagen, or vice versa. (6) Even tourism information links the two cities; for example, the Copenhagen tourist website suggests, "Why not take a day trip to Sweden while visiting Copenhagen?" (7) The Oresund Bridge and the development of the Oresund region more generally, has been an economic boost for the two cities--Malmo and Copenhagen --that are so closely linked by the bridge. (8)

   The refugee surge from Syria has affected the Oresund region along with the rest of Europe. (9) Consistent with Raoul Wallenberg's well-known humanitarian legacy, Sweden has reportedly accepted the highest number of refugees per capita of any European country. (10) Its Oresund partner, Denmark, in contrast, has been criticized for enacting a law permitting seizure of asylum seekers' assets above USD 1,450, and slashing social benefits available to these new arrivals. (11) In January 2016, as thousands of refugees sought to quickly transit through Denmark and make their way to the more welcoming country of Sweden by coming over the Oresund Bridge, Sweden imposed border controls. (12) Though the controls affect all Swedish borders, the impact at the Oresund Bridge is the most dramatic and disruptive. What was once an uneventful train ride between the two closely aligned countries is now the crossing of a guarded international border. All trains from Denmark to Sweden are stopped for searches from border control guards, with the attendant delays, tensions and costs. These checks are costly both in terms of personnel to conduct them and lost revenue as travelers cancel discretionary travel. (13)

   Not surprisingly, many city leaders, businesses and residents of Malmo, Copenhagen, and other cities of the Oresund region, have strong feelings about this turn of events. (14) The millions of Danish and Swedish kronor spent branding Oresund as a single region, have now been jeopardized by passport requirements and transportation delays. Lives have been disrupted. With the cancellation of train routes in order to streamline the controls, some commutes have gone from one-half hour to one hour or more. (15) Because of Swedish and Danish cooperation that preceded the Schengen agreement, it is the first time in almost sixty years that there have been border controls between Sweden and Denmark. (16) European Union law requires that such controls be re-imposed only on a temporary basis, but controls have already been extended multiple times and no one really knows when it will end, if ever. (17)

   The media coverage of the European refugee surge has focused primarily on jockeying among national governments and the European Union as they debate overarching migration and border policies for the region. However, the influx of refugees has also had dramatic impacts on local governments throughout Europe. (18) The Oresund region is just one example. Housing, water and sanitation, literacy and education, cultural diversity, and issues of inclusion, are all addressed on the local--not national --level, and are just a few of the issues raised by newly arrived refugees.

   This essay focuses on these local impacts, examining what they indicate about the inadequacies of the current structural relationships between Europe's local, national, and regional governments in the context of mass migration. I analyze these impacts utilizing data compiled by the Eurocities network and through a case study of the Oresund region. First, I provide a brief overview of the role of cities in the legal framework for refugee admission and settlement, which places the exclusive decision-making authority and policy responsibility at the national and regional level. Second, I examine two decision-making arenas in which cities have asserted the need for a greater voice: (a) the allocation of funds and support for refugee resettlement and inclusion, and (b) the establishment of border controls that affect local economies, using the Oresund region as a case study. Finally, I offer some observations about emerging relationships between local and national governments in Europe. In particular, I note the ways in which the refugee surge interacts with several simultaneous initiatives that are establishing stronger roles for local governments on the European and international stages, including the decentralization of functions that were once the exclusive province of nation states.

2. CITIES AND INTERNATIONAL REFUGEE LAW

   In Europe, the movement of refugees across borders and the treatment of refugees in EU member nations is governed by both international and regional law. All members of the European Union have signed and ratified both the Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Refugee Protocol. (19) The European Union provides additional legal standards relating to treatment of migrants. (20) None of these sources of law identify an active role for cities in formulating and executing migration policy. Indeed, such a role is difficult to square with a longstanding tradition linking issues of migration with national sovereignty.

   The Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees, completed in 1951, defines refugee status and sets out the international law relating to refugees.21 The Convention's operative definition states that a refugee is someone who

   owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it. (22) Like other international treaties, the Geneva Convention is directed only at Contracting States. (23) Contracting states undertake a series of obligations related to civil and political rights (i.e., Freedom of Religion) and basic social services and supports. (24) For example, Contracting States undertake to "accord to refugees the same treatment as is accorded to nationals with respect to elementary education." (25) Similarly, Contracting States agree that

   in so far as the matter is regulated by laws or regulations or is subject to the control of public authorities, [they] shall accord to refugees lawfully staying in their territory treatment as favourable as possible and, in any event, not less favourable than that accorded to aliens generally in the same circumstances. (26) The Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, completed in 1967, further facilitates implementation of the provisions of the Convention. (27) It obligates States Parties to cooperate with the UN High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR) in collecting data on refugee administration. (28) Further, the Protocol mandates that States Parties report to the UNHCR on their compliance with the Geneva Convention. (29)

   Both the Convention and the Protocol note that some of the constituent governmental units of the State party may exercise the internal domestic leadership over issues addressed in these international documents, such as housing or education of refugees. (30) But neither the Convention nor the Protocol addresses subnational units directly. Instead, these documents both recognize that States may need to ensure compliance with the Treaty across the jurisdictions of subnational entities, and they place the obligation on the States Parties to achieve some consistency in domestic implementation. (31)

   In addition to international law, many European states have acceded to regional instruments relevant to refugee movement, most notably the Schengen Agreement. The Schengen Agreement binds twenty-six countries in Europe, twenty-two of which are members of the European Union. (32) Under the agreement, signed in 1985 in the town of Schengen, Luxembourg, border checks are removed within Europe. Once someone has entered the Schengen zone, that person--regardless of nationality --can move freely between member states without showing a passport or visa. (33) Through the Treaty of Amsterdam, the Schengen area is embedded in the legal and institutional framework of the EU. (34)

   Pressure arising from the influx of refugees into Europe has compromised the Schengen Agreement. In 2015, Germany imposed controls on its border with Austria after a record number of migrants travelled to southern Germany from Hungary, via Austria. (35) The influx of migrants likewise pushed Austria to control traffic at its Hungarian border. (36) Denmark, Italy, and Hungary have also imposed border controls in selected areas, and throughout Europe, border checks are now common. (37) The Schengen Agreement is an important component of the Oresund region's success, but as described above, it was also suspended at the Danish-Swedish border in response to refugee pressures. (38) Under the terms of the Schengen Agreement, border controls may only be reintroduced on a temporary basis in response to a national security emergency, but as countries continue to renew the border checks, it becomes more and more likely...