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EU to promote legal migration

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Published 21 December 2005 - Updated 24 April 2006
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labour migration
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Commissioners Frattini and Spidla have launched a joint package for managing migration into the EU.

Subsidiarity

No quotas for the number of migrants to be allowed entry will be set at EU level. This will be left firmly within the purview of the member states only. Launching the policy, Commissioner Frattini stressed that the principle of subsidiarity will prevail.

The Policy Plan looks at four issues:

  • An outline of legislative proposals to come. There will be a framework directive on the basic rights of immigrant workers and four specific directives dealing with conditions of entry, residence rights etc.
  • Tools to foster better exchange of information will be developed through an EU immigration portal and the European job mobility portal (EURES).
  • A successful migration policy depends on successful integration. The work on migration therefore will be co-ordinated with existing integration policy.
  • Measures to promote co-ordination with the countries of origin of immigrants on issues such as circular migration, combatting 'brain drain', linguistic training programmes etc.

 

Positions: 

Commissioner Frattini explained that his approach was aimed at combatting illegal immigration by providing a European framework in which people can come legally to the EU to work. He gave the example of a proposal for multi-annual workers permits. These would allow seasonal workers the right to enter and work in the EU for six months every year for a period of five years. The current problem of legal short-term visa holders overstaying illegally would therefore be discouraged, as workers would know they had a right to return for successive years.

Next steps: 
  • Concrete proposals will be issued from 2007 onwards.
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Background: 

The fact that Europe needs migrant workers has become clear over the past few years. The change in demographics in Europe - the ageing population, the falling birth rate mean that increasingly there are not enough people to fill the jobs to keep Europe strong economically. 

In many EU countries the shortfall in unskilled labour has been taken up by illegal immigrants who, not being registered in the member state where they are working, then neither contribute to the economy through taxes nor can they benefit from health care etc.

The Commission's response to these problems is to encourage and facilitate legal economic migration.  January 2005 therefore saw the publication of a green paper (see EurActiv 12 Jan 2005) on which there was extensive consultation. 

The culmination of this process is a policy plan, published on 21 December 2005, setting out actions and initiatives to be taken over the period 2006-9. The document contains no concrete legislative proposals but these will follow from 2007.

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