Brussels, 07/12/2007 (Agence Europe) - EU interior ministers gave their agreement on Thursday 6 December to the opening of negotiations with Cape Verde and Moldova to grant citizens of both countries special access to the EU labour market. The European Commission will negotiate bilaterally the setting up of pilot projects, 'mobility partnerships', with the two countries.
The action content of the mobility partnerships may vary from one country to the other, depending on the special nature of the country in question, explain the ministers in their conclusions document. The Commission itself suggested last May that such cooperation agreements should be signed with certain countries outside the EU (see EUROPE 9428). The Council stresses that exploratory talks should be held with a number of interested countries over the establishment of other pilot projects. The Commission will be required to publish a progress report by July 2008.
In their conclusions, the ministers also reaffirmed their attachment to the idea of developing a system of circular migration between the EU and other countries, an idea also mooted by the Commission in May. In this connection, the ministers drew up a list of factors which might be taken into account to facilitate circular migration, like partnerships between member states' employment agencies and employment agencies in the 'third' countries', improving the mutual recognition of qualifications and measures to guarantee the recruitment of workers from third countries. The Council also noted that the Commission and member states should ensure that EU legislation on legal immigration facilitated circular immigration. The ministers invited the Commission to ensure that financial support was provided to set up circular migration projects. In order to ensure greater effectiveness, the ministers noted that the concept of circular migration could be incorporated in the new 'mobility partnerships'. (B.C.)