The European Parliament wants more legal channels for economic migration, including for less skilled migrants. It did so on Thursday 20 May by adopting the own-initiative report by Sylvie Guillaume (S&D, France) by 495 votes to 163 with 32 abstentions.
The elected representatives had discussed this the day before with Vice-President Margarítis Schinás, who reminded them of the various proposals that the Commission will soon be putting on the table, including Talent Partnerships (launched on 11 June), a revision of the directive on long-term residents in the EU, a revision of the ‘Single Permit’ directive and, later in the year, a ‘Skills and Talents’ package.
The Commission also wants to set up a European platform for the recruitment of third-country workers to meet the labour needs of European employers, a “sensitive issue” and not necessarily accepted by all Member States, Mr Schinás commented on Wednesday.
Ms Guillaume believes that it is necessary to move away from the “xenophobic” rhetoric on legal labour migration, which amounts to saying that it would take the work of Europeans, create “hordes” of migrants, or engineer the brain drain of non-Member States.
The MEP wants to help build a “positive” vision, whereas the EU has in recent years sought to work on the “effects of migration and not the causes”.
However, “the more legal channels are reduced”, the more smuggling networks develop, with all the deadly events that ensue, she stressed.
Ms Guillaume mentioned some sectors where the EU has unmet labour needs, such as hotels, restaurants, and seasonal work. Her report also recalls that during the pandemic, many migrant workers were on the front lines, particularly in the care sector.
It also supports the idea of a European platform to match needs and calls on the Commission to propose new directives on legal migration that would also cover low-skilled jobs.
Link to the report: https://bit.ly/3hTwcF5 (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)