One backdrop to the conference was the topic of immigration in Europe, and in Italy in particular.

Last week, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s government continued its crackdown on illegal immigration, making an arrangement with Libya to deport migrants to Libya before they arrive on Italian shores.

Those actions have been met by dismay and anger by human-rights activists in Italy and elsewhere.

The controversy was evident at the European Foundation Centre’s conference, when, during the opening plenary, Giorgio Napolitano, president of the Italian Republic, spoke about the dangers of xenophobia and intolerance.

That sentiment was underscored two days later at the conference’s closing session, where Emílio Rui Vilar, the newly elected chair of the European Foundation Centre, read a statement on behalf of conference participants that Europeans must work together to defend the human rights of immigrants.

The statement, which was met with enthusiastic applause from foundation officials in the audience, said: “It is with great regret that we witness the emergence of a climate in Italy, which is symptomatic of a general trend throughout Europe, which leads to measures relating to undocumented migrants that undermine people’s basic human rights….”

“We recognize that migration is a complex and challenging issue for all European member states…. We strongly encourage the governments of all member states to work individually, together and with the institutions of the European Union to build a framework for addressing migration in ways that truly respect the dignity of all human beings as defined in the European Convention on Human Rights.”