Abstract
The work of the Thematic Network ECSPRESS identified antiracism strategies as a central contribution of the social professions to the creation of a Social Europe. This means recognising that it was the monolithic, monocultural constructs underlying the European nation states that provided the ground for anti-immigrant racism and xenophobia, not the numeric increase of immigrants and asylums seekers. The debates over the problems «caused» by their arrival are products of unresolved debates over the boundaries of national solidarity. It is the mandate of the social professions to re-constitute social solidarity in the political context of globalisation which currently leads to a massive re-distribution of time and space and reduces the steering capacity of nation states. Globalisation brings with it new forms of exclusion both within and between ethnically defined groups. In fulfilling this role, the social professions need to develop inter-cultural competences which in turn relate back to competent inter-cultural communication. The two-dimensional model of communication, proposed by Gregory Bateson, forms a timely reminder that good communication is utterly dependent on the creation of a community of people committed to understanding each other. The securing of the political and social rights necessary for such a community derive froln a more comprehensive understanding of the concept of citizenship which encompasses notions of political rights, cultural contexts and personal/psychological identities. The combined functions of these notions of citizenship will form essential reference points for the development of a Social Europe striving for