Brussels, 13/09/2007 (Agence Europe) - Faced with the ageing population in the EU and the decline in its working population, the European Commission confirmed on Thursday 13 September that it intended to reverse this situation. To achieve this aim, it is seeking, above all, to promote “highly qualified” immigration that is useful to the European economy. This strategy is also being pursued in the USA, Australia and Canada, which are now reigning champions at attracting qualified workers from developing countries. At a high level conference on immigration in Lisbon, Franco Frattini, Commissioner for Immigration, declared, “We have to shift - even if not completely - our traditional way of thinking of migration”. The commissioner added: “Let us be realistic in a visionary way. Let us try to use, a new expression: EU mobility. We have to look at immigration as an enrichment and as an inescapable phenomenon of today's world, not as a threat”.
In his speech, the commissioner presented the main guidelines of the two important texts that still need finalising before their planned adoption on 23 October. An initial draft directive aims to provide highly skilled workers easier access to the European labour market and improve their residency status in the EU. This includes an accelerated procedure, a range of guarantees (work contract, professional qualifications, wage levels, etc) for entry into Union territory, with the creation of a “blue card” granted to migrants, conferring a whole range of rights. Young professionals are expected to benefit from specific conditions. The right to residency in the first countries of destination will initially be limited to two years, and then renewable. Access to other EU countries will be subject to certain conditions after two or three years spent in the first member state of residency. To avoid penalising migrant mobility, immigrants may be allowed to accumulate periods of residency in different member states so that they can more quickly benefit from a permanent residency permit in the Union. Faced with the fears this kind of measure can engender, with regard to the brain drain, Commissioner Frattini put things into perspective and explained that qualified workers coming to Europe had a “positive impact” on their countries of origin. Frattini believes that this strategy could both reduce pressures on the immigrant's labour market of origin but also promote outward payments from Europe to the countries of origin, while allowing immigrants, once trained, to go back to their home countries. Nonetheless, there are countries and professions, especially in Africa, where qualified people emigrating, presents a problem. This is why Mr Frattini is seeking to create “ethical standards” for recruitment that takes the individual country into account. In parallel, the commissioner announced the release, in the next few days of €10 million to help implement the migration management centre project in Bamako (Mali). As well as performing many other functions, it is likely that in the long term, this structure will serve as a relay antenna to the European Union for recruiting Malian workers, while taking the existing work opportunities in member states into account. Member states will, nevertheless, take the decisions on how many migrants they admit onto their territory.
A second text aims to minimise the gap between European citizens and workers from third countries, particularly in terms of social assurance, working conditions and recognising qualifications. These rights will not be defined in the directive. The text is expected to be limited to defining the areas in which “equal treatment” should apply between third country workers and those from member states. However, member states remain free to maintain or propose improved rights. The commissioner for employment, social affairs and equal opportunities, Vladimir Spidla, welcomed the proposed initiative but said that “unfortunately, immigrants often work in conditions that are not on a par with those of the European Union at the beginning of the 21st century”. In 2008, other draft directives will follow: legal admission into the EU of seasonal workers, payments for those on courses, permission to remain for foreign workers benefiting from a transfer to a company in the EU.
The working population in the EU is expected to decline from 2011 onwards. Germany, Italy and Hungary are the counties most in need of foreigners. It is currently estimated that 85% of unqualified migrants come to Europe, while 5% of them go to the US. In the opposite direction, 55% of qualified migrants opt for the US and only 5% for Europe. (bc)