Navigation

European nations debate cultural diversity

Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey is in Turkey on Tuesday for a Council of Europe meeting on cooperation under growing cultural diversity and migration.

This content was published on May 10, 2011 minutes
swissinfo.ch and agencies

The annual gathering of foreign ministers will examine challenges facing all European countries and how to improve cooperation among nations in what is an “environment of increasing ethnic, cultural and religious diversity”.

In particular, it will ask how to successfully overcome intolerance and discrimination of foreigners.

Relations with European neighbours, especially in the Mediterranean region will also be discussed.

Serving as a basis for the talks will be a report commissioned by the Council of Europe and authored by a group of leading figures from different European countries on co-existence in Europe in the 21st century.

The report states that European societies should welcome the cultural diversity that has come about as a result of migration. Members of society should respect the law, and all immigrants should be granted basic political rights, the report urges.

Calmy-Rey is expected to have bilateral talks with Turkish President Abdullah Gül on the sidelines of the event.

In compliance with the JTI standards

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

Contributions under this article have been turned off. You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

Share this story

Change your password

Do you really want to delete your profile?