Eighth edition of the "Group for Exchange and Support on Integration at Local level"

Citizen and political participation: raising awareness and motivating non-Luxembourgers to participate in the municipal elections of 11 June 2023

Last Wednesday 15th of June, a new edition of the "Group for the exchange and support on integration at local level” (GRESIL) took place at the Mierscher Kulturhaus.

Political leaders, municipal representatives and agents as well as members of the consultative municipal commissions on integration met face-to-face as well as digitally to discuss the topic "Civic and political participation: raising awareness and motivating non-Luxembourgers to participate in the municipal elections of 11th of June 2023. Let's talk about awareness-raising actions on municipal level". A total of 110 participants attended the event, representing 55 municipalities. In addition, integration advisors were present, as well as representatives from different ministries, the CNE (national council for foreigners)  and a number of associations working on integration.

The session was opened by Michel Malherbe, mayor of the municipality of Mersch, who hosted the event at the Mierscher Kulturhaus. The Minister for Family and Integration, Corinne Cahen, and Emile Eicher, President of Syvicol, also welcomed the GRESIL participants. Conny Heuertz from the Department of Integration animated the event.

After a brief introduction, a representative of CLAE emphasised the importance of associations in raising awareness among non-Luxembourgish residents on the forthcoming municipal elections. Then, a representative of CEFIS gave an overview of the registrations on the electoral lists for the 2017 municipal elections. The participants were also given explanations on the national campaign "I can vote" and the president of the inter-municipal association Réidener Kanton and the mayor of the municipality of Mertzig presented concrete examples of activities and best practices in terms of civic and political participation in their region.

During the second part of GRESIL, the participants present in Mersch exchanged ideas around four thematic stands. These stands are meant to serve as a source of inspiration for municipal actors to create their own awareness-raising activities to motivate non-Luxembourgish residents to register on the electoral roll for the municipal elections in June 2023. Thus, the Zentrum fir politesch Bildung (political education centre) guided people through their interactive exhibition "Den DemokratieLabo" and the ministry, with the help of the integration advisers, presented their (specifically made) information stand for the national campaign "I can vote" including a (specifically hired) mini-bus. Two other stands were manned by the associations ASTI and CLAE to present their initiatives and for the municipalities of Strassen and Dudelange, who explained their experiences with projects aimed at strengthening political participation at municipal level.

ASTI, Syvicol, CEFIS and the Department for integration of the ministry for Family affairs, Integration and the Greater Region, the co-organisers of this event, would like to thank all those present for their active participation in this exchange and meeting platform.

Created in 2018 as a result of the strong interest and need of Luxembourg municipalities to network on issues related to integration and living together, GRESIL, in its eight edition now, offers municipalities a platform for gathering, exchanging, creating synergies, informing, training and support around integration issues at local level. The next GRESIL meeting is scheduled for autumn 2022. It will allow the municipalities to continue their exchange around the subjects of civic and political participation and to develop their network of actors and communicate more around good practices in the field of living together.

A full recording of the first part of GRESIL 8, as well as all presentations on best practices, will be available shortly on the intergatioun.lu website under the link https://integratioun.lu/gresil/gresil-8-15-06-2022/.

Press release by : Department of Integration of the Ministry for Family Affairs, Integration and the Greater Region / Association de soutien aux travailleurs immigrés (ASTI) / Syndicat des villes et communes luxembourgeoises (Syvicol) / Centre d'Etude et de Formation interculturelles et sociales (CEFIS)

_{Photos : © SYVICOL et Ministère de la Famille et de l'Intégration}