On Thursday 12 October, negotiators from the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union held the third negotiation meeting (‘trilogue’) on the revision of the directive on the single permit, and will attempt to reach a political agreement on this dossier at the next political meeting on 21 November (see EUROPE 13200/23).
The discussions, which began in June, have so far produced common ground on a number of points, including the scope of the directive, with all categories of third-country workers legally resident in the EU now able to apply for a single permit and change permit category, a source said on 13 October.
The Council of the EU, for its part, has succeeded in insisting that this directive will in no way alter the Member States’ ability to determine the volumes of foreign labour. However, a number of issues remain to be resolved, such as the length of the procedure for issuing single permits and the right to the unemployment benefit for people with a single permit.
On the first point, the European Parliament is calling for a procedure not exceeding 90 days, but could accept an exceptional extension of 30 days, based on the so-called ‘Blue Card’ directive.
On unemployment, positions remain far apart, with the Council of the EU calling for a two-month entitlement to unemployment benefit, while the European Parliament has come out in favour of 9 months. The positions of the two institutions are still far apart on the right of holders of single permits to change employer and sector of activity, with the Council of the EU wanting these changes to be possible after 12 months or in exceptional cases such as a situation of exploitation of workers.
With regard to the duration of entitlement to unemployment benefit, the idea would be to base it on the length of contributions made by holders of the single permit. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)