Brussels, 26/09/2008 (Agence Europe) - The European Union is expected by the end of the year to finalise its “blue card” project, which is based on the famous American “green card” with a view to attracting the elite of foreign workers to Europe. “There is a very serious possibility that we shall very soon reach agreement on this”, said French Immigration Minister Brice Hortefeux speaking on Thursday 25 September after a meeting of ministers responsible for immigration matters in Brussels.
The proposed “blue card” directive presented in October 2007 by the European Commission (EUROPE 9529) is intended to make up for the shortage of labour in a number of sectors by attracting highly qualified workers from third countries. It must receive the unanimity of member states to be adopted, as the European Parliament is only consulted on the matter. Given that about 200 reservations have been made by member states on the text, discussions have proven very difficult, as can be seen from the reports from the various ministerial debates on the subject (EUROPOE 9560 and 9711). Nonetheless, thanks to a compromise on the substance of the text (see EUROPE 9745), an agreement is now within the Council's reach. The Council should be able to endorse the project during the JHA Council on 27 and 28 November in Luxembourg. “We are almost in agreement on nearly all of the text”, Mr Hortefeux stressed, recalling that there was only “one reserve” of a technical nature raised by the Czech Republic. Nationals from this country, like those of the other Central and Eastern European states that recently joined the EU, still do not have free access to the labour market of their Western European neighbours. The last obstacles must be lifted on 1 May 2011 (by Germany and Austria) for countries that entered the EU in 2004 and the Czechs do not want to see the blue card in force before that date, a diplomatic source said, explaining that the Czech authorities want to be certain that their nationals are not disadvantaged to the benefit of workers from third countries. In order to clarify matters, the Czechs wish for the proposed “blue card” to explicitly mention that the date of entry into force of the directive must coincide with that of the lifting of restrictions on access to the labour market. The Czech request could have been accepted, which would have made it possible to reach an agreement, if the concerns of Romania and Bulgaria had not been taken into account. For the latter two countries, mentioning the 2011 deadline would be very discriminatory as labour market restrictions for the nationals of these two countries that entered into the EU in 2007 will apply until 1 January 2014 at the latest. But it is more than being just a “problem of timetable”, as Mr Hortefeux had said - the political sensitivities of each party have to be resolved. The permanent representatives of the EU27 to the EU were entrusted with the task of finding a solution which, according to a source close to the French EU Presidency, could be the following: “It would be enough to include a footnote referring, for example, to the treaty of accession”.
The “blue card” completes the provision set in place with the European Pact on Immigration and Asylum, definitively approved by the 27 and to be officially endorsed during the European Council on 15 October, in Brussels (EUROPE 9748). The future holder of a blue card will benefit from freedom of movement throughout European territory and his/her social rights will be identical to those granted to EU nationals. His/her spouse will benefit from access to employment. It will only be after 18 months of residence in an EU country that the worker will be able to settle in another state. “We are sending a signal of openness”, the French minister said. Each member state will nonetheless remain free to decide whether or not it opens the precious door to employment in relation to its own labour market characteristics. “The blue card does not regulate access to national labour markets”, the German minister of the interior, Wolfgang Schäuble, pointed out, assuring moreover that the system did not aim to encourage “a brain-drain”. (B.C./transl.jl)