Tarja Filatov : "Restoring humanism to its place in the debate on immigration"

For Finnish Labour Minister Tarja Filatov, the Helsinki Conference represents an "indispensable counterpart" to bald regulation-based policies, and also allows the issues to be formulated in a Europe-wide context.

Tarja Filatov : Immigration is a very recent phenomenon in our country, and we have barely 2% of foreigners, predominantly Russians, Swedes and Estonians. But within the next 15 years, we shall need to call upon a growing number of foreigners, for one thing to compensate the effects of retirements and a downward demographic trend. Preparations should therefore be made and these new population groups received and integrated as of now. More generally, we are aware that no country can settle immigration questions on its own, and the Council of Europe has the advantage of uniting the entire continent, and thus of constituting the broadest platform in existence.

Tarja Filatov : I cannot bring myself to believe that the people in Europe who vote for extremist parties are really extremists themselves. I think they vote that way out of fear, and dispelling these unfounded fears through meetings like this one is just the way to make them reconsider their position. In Finland, luckily, these extreme tendencies are not present.

Tarja Filatov : What I consider most important is that it has reintroduced the human dimension into the debate on immigration. Of course rules and legislation are necessary and much discussed in Europe at present, but it is crucial to recall the human aspects of the phenomenon at the same time. This conference has shown that a balance can be struck between the two demands of security and advancement of human rights on the one hand and the future of labour markets on the other. I am glad that it has been possible to attain this balance at the pan-European level, and obviously Finland will do everything to achieve further progress in this direction. Finally, as the meeting reiterated, and this is equally crucial, when a country’s borders are closed it then becomes very difficult to reopen them later!