Brussels, 10/07/2001 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, at the initiative of Antonio Vitorino, the European Commission is expected to adopt a proposal of directive relating to the conditions for entry and residence of third country nationals in the EU in the aim of finding employment or a remunerated activity (legal and economic immigration) and a communication on the "setting into place of a method for coordination of Community immigration policy".
Speaking on the theme Migratory Flows and the European Labour Market: towards a Community immigration policy, on 9 July in London, Commissioner Vitorino explained the context in which the two initiatives were developed. The first is "a first legal instrument at European level to respond to the request made by the Tampere Summit (October 1999) to harmonise economic immigrant admission procedures and mechanisms within the EU", said Leonello Gabrici, the Commissioner's spokesman. Regarding the second, he recalled that "the Commission communication on Community immigration policy placed emphasis on the need for each Member State to conscientiously look at its own policy on immigration to be "able to go further at European level". Citing the example of Germany, which has just concluded such an examination of conscience", the spokesman noted that the question is now "how to export all these reports or examinations of conscience to European level". The conclusion, the Commission believes, consists in proposing a method of open coordination to filter out what should be taken on board at European level, in order to adopt a common procedure on asylum and immigration.