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EU: "Legal migration" proposals from the Commission

01 October 2007

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Council Directive on the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for the purposes of highly qualified employment ( COM 637, pdf) and Proposal for a Council Directive on a single application procedure for a single permit for third-country nationals to reside and work in the territory of a Member State and on a common set of rights for third-country workers legally residing in a Member State (COM 638, pdf). European Commission press release (pdf), 23 October 2007 See: African states fear brain drain through EU blue card (euobserver, link)

The Commission, as agreed by the Council (the EU governments), has put forward two proposals to meet the needs of the labour market resulting from "demographic problems resulting from our ageing population" and the "limited mobility of EU citizens". A "Blue Card is to be introduced to attract "highly qualified workers" - described by the Commission from as "the brightest and the best" from third world countries. The second proposal introduces a "single application procedure" and a "common set of rights for third country workers legally residing in a Member State".

The Commission claims that the "negative "brain drain" effects in developing countries" will be "avoided" through "ethical recruitment standards" which will limit, or ban, "active recruitment by Member States in developing countries already suffering from "serious brain drain" - a statement that defies comprehension.

Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor, comments:

"The proposal to have a common set of rights for third country workers is to be welcomed but the underlying "legal migration", Blue Card scheme, is not.

On the one hand the EU removes evermore the rights of refugees fleeing from poverty and persecution seeking sanctuary. On the other, due to the EU's ageing population, it wants to actively recruit highly skilled workers from the third world in order to maintain its own standards of living - and thus maintain, if not exacerbate, an already unequal relationship.

It is a policy devoid of humanity or principle."

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