‘Blue Card’ proposal almost unanimously welcomed

MEP Jean-Marie Cavada  (ALDE, France), the chairman of Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee, said: "These proposals open the way to a legitimate and expected evolution which keeps pace with the progress provided for by the Lisbon Treaty. Moreover, at a time when the EU is experiencing an ageing of its active population and a penury of skilled labour in certain key sectors, and as our key competitors worldwide (USA, Canada, Australia...), are offering clear and more favourable terms to highly-skilled third country nationals, it is our duty to find a way to attract the best. But we are awaiting the texts before commenting in greater detail. We shall in any event be vigilant, and, in agreement with the other competent committees, we shall examine carefully the provisions of these two directives, and notably the safeguards they provide to limit the brain drain from developing countries, for socio-economic rights and for the right of family members to join these skilled workers". 

German Conservative MEP Manfred Weber, who is rapporteur on the draft directive for the return of illegal immigrants, said on behalf of his group: "Europe is not attractive enough for highly-qualified workers. The European Union needs these mostly young people - they contribute to innovation and thus help create jobs. However, the question is what criteria will be applied to select these highly-qualified immigrants. The proposed threshold of three times the minimum wage is too low." 

Weber added: "The new rules must not put additional pressure on the millions of unemployed in the EU member states. In addition, only member states must have the competence to decide on the size of immigration flows."  

Italian Socialist MEP Claudio Fava, who will be rapporteur on the directive on sanctions for employers of illegal immigrants, said: "The Socialist Group positively welcomes the European Commission proposal on the Blue Card for highly-skilled workers, but at the same time, it believes that final text should be braver. In addition to the legal channels of immigration, there should be true and effective free movement of workers on all of the European territory. Limiting this mobility would signify a myopic approach, influenced by national interests and against the idea of an open, economically and competitively advanced Europe. It is also necessary to urgently open the channels of legal migration for non-skilled workers - an indispensable measure in the fight against the increase of work on the black market and the exploitation which immigrants suffer due to the lack of European norms." 

UK MEP Jean Lambert, spokesperson for the Greens/EFA group on immigration, said: "The proposed Blue Card (...) is supposed to make the EU more attractive as a destination in the global 'talent war' but the Commission risks undermining its own goal. It is a serious source of regret that the Commission is proposing restrictions on mobility within the EU to accompany the card. Mobility is one of the fundamental freedoms in the EU and restrictions for one group of EU residents smacks of double standards. The linking of the 'Blue Card' initiative with the presentation of a general directive on minimum rights for migrant workers is certainly welcome and reflects the need for a comprehensive approach to migration policy. The debate on migration at EU-level has been far too preoccupied with irrational crackdowns on illegal immigration but the reality is that the possibility of legal immigration is crucial to a coherent approach to the issue."  

UK MEP Philip Bradbourn, Conservative spokesman on Justice and Home Affairs, said: "This is the wrong answer to the wrong question. What we should be addressing is the wave of illegal migration into the EU before we tackle skills shortages. The proposal as it stands will open a Pandora's box to those who seek to migrate to the EU without any of the controls necessary to ensure that those who employ illegal migrants are tackled and those illegal migrants who are caught are sent back to their country of origin. The proposal will encourage more people to undertake hazardous journeys from all corners of the world in the hope that they will get a work permit which once issued will give them free range to move across the whole of Europe." 

John Monks, general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), said: "Immigration cannot be an easy solution for dealing with labour market shortages and demographic change. The social partners must be involved in assessing real labour market needs, and investment in training of unemployed workers – including those from a migrant or minority ethnic background – is a first priority. We will also have to make jobs in sectors where there are shortages more attractive to the locally unemployed in terms of wages and working conditions."

Hans-Werner Müller, secretary-general of SME organisation UEAPME, said: "The European Commission rightly decided to tackle the issue of legal migration focusing on certain categories of employees. A sector-by-sector approach, which UEAPME favours and requested several times, is crucial to ensure that Europe can benefit more from legal migration in the coming years." Müller insisted, however, on the need to tackle the high unemployment rates in most of the European Union's member states at the same time and with the same energy: "Improving the integration in the labour market of the unemployed, which are an untapped source of talent, should remain high on the list of priorities."

Experts agree that the EU is in need of more immigration from outside its borders, for two main reasons: 

• Europe is experiencing a growing shortage of highly-qualified workers in fields such as engineering and informatics, and;
• immigration is the most effective way of defusing Europe's demographic timebomb, which originates from people growing older, as well as too few babies being born throughout the EU. Without any countermeasures, Europe's social systems would not be sustainable in the twenty-first century. 

However, competing econonomies such as the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Switzerland are managing to attract highly-skilled immigrants much more successfully than the EU does. Increasingly, skilled workers from the EU decide to migrate, on a temporary or a permanent basis, to those countries, turning Europe from a profiteer of the so-called brain-drain phenomenon into a region that is losing talent to overseas economies. Ten EU member states have already set up schemes for attracting qualiifed labour from outside the EU, and a number of others are discussing such schemes. 

• Dec. 2005: Commission Policy Plan on Legal Migration (see EURACTIV, 21 December 2005).
• Dec. 2006: European Council invites Commission to present a comprehensive EU Migration Policy. 
• Autumn 2008: Commission to present three more proposals on: 
• • seasonal workers; 
  • remunerated trainees, and; 
  • intra-corporate transferees.

Non-assigned links

• Commission (Memo):Attractive conditions for the admission and residence of highly qualified immigrants(23 October 2007)
• Commission (Memo):Simplified admission procedures and common set of rights for third-country workers(23 October 2007)
• Commission President José Manuel Durão Barroso (Speech):Opening remarks on legal immigration(23 October 2007)
• Commission (Press release):Making Europe more attractive to highly skilled migrants and increasing the protection of lawfully residing and working migrants(23 October 2007) [FR] [FR] [DE]
• DG Justice and Home Affairs:Developing a common European immigration policy - key documents [FR] [FR] [DE]