Last week, I
attended a two day conference organised by the University of Luxembourg on: “Business-Related Migration. The Position of
Luxembourg within Europe and Beyond”. It was held at Abbaye de Neumunster Luxembourg City. This was the 7th conference
of the National Contact Point Luxembourg within the European Migration Network.
These two days of reflection and discussion involved the presence and
participation of Corinne Cahen (Minister for Family, Integration and the Greater
Region), Rolf Tarrach (President of
the University of Luxembourg) and Christel
Baltes-Löhr (Coordinator of the EMN National Contact Point Luxembourg). 
There were contributions from a great variety of national and international
academics and experts active in the field of migration: Philippe Fargues (Director of the Migration Policy
Centre in Florence, Italy), Marco
Cilento (adviser at the European Trade Union Confederation), Anna Platonova (IOM´s Regional Office
in Brussels, Belgium), Arthur Sweetman-Canada-
(Ontario Research Chair in Health Human Resources), José Eduardo Rojo Oropeza- Mexico- (Director for International
Relations and Inter-Agency Affairs at the Migration Policy Bureau), Marc Wagener (Directeur des Affaires
économiques ainsi que Membre du Comité de direction de la Chambre de Commerce
au Luxembourg), Michel Beine
(Professor in International Economics at the University of Luxembourg). About multiculturalism: I found it enriching to discover that at this European Conference in Lux there were people present from different parts of the globe interested in the same topic.
The Abbey of Neumünster is a major historical site and an impressive
architectural achievement. Former Benedictine abbey, military bastion and prison (during Nazis occupation), it is located in the old quarters on
an itinerary classified as World Heritage by the UNESCO. It is composed of a
Benedictine abbey, founded in 1606, which is flanked by a building from the
period of the Prussian garrison’s presence and a construction from the early
20th century.
The centre thus benefits from a scenography worthy of the most
extraordinary productions. In the summer, this spectacular location with the
rock face, the casemates and the rivulet Alzette making its way through the
valley, serves as background to music festivals and to big stage productions.
(adapted from plurio.net)
About the policy of languages: As it was stated in the general information page, we knew in advance that the working languages would be English, French, German. However, for me, as a student of Master in Learning and Communication in Multilingual and Multicultural contexts at the University of Luxembourg, it was interesting to notice which language each speaker chose to use. To make myself clear: in some cases, speakers chose to use one language. In others, they just used English as a “lingua franca”. Out of 10 speakers, 6 (among them one native speaker and one Spanish speaker who had to use English as his only existing second choice) gave their conferences in English, 3 in French, 1 in German.There were German, English and French interpreters.
After the
closing of the conference on Tuesday (and after a delicious lunch), some of us
went to Dudelange (organised bus shuttle). First we did a guided tour of the
Italian Quarter and then we visited the exhibition Emigration, immigration, ré-immigration at the Centre de Documentation Sur les Migrations Humaines. Then, we
returned to Luxembourg city. At the museum,
I learnt that there was migration from people to Luxembourg to Argentina at the
end of 19th century.
In
Dudelange, Little Italy was founded
at the end of the 19th century, with the beginning of metallurgy. Originally
inserted between the fabrics and the mine, the quarter is a fascinating memory
of the contemporary history of migrations in Luxembourg. Built on the slope of
a hill, Little Italy all consists in terraces that are linked by stairs and
subterranean corridors that sometimes remind of the famous traboules in Lyon. At the beginning of the 20th century, the
quarter was mainly, though not inclusively, inhabited by Italian immigrants,
who gave it its name.
Corina Moscovich