EU to open immigration door

[Nadvojvoda Janez Kranjski]

EU to open immigration door


Proposals to crack open ‘fortress’ Europe’s door to legal economic migrants will be tabled by the European Commission in 2007 and 2008.

The EU is to create a legal alternative to illegal immigration routes into Europe in a bid to ease labour shortages and to take some of the pressure off Europe’s borders.

Brussels will kick off a controversial policy debate, highly sensitive in EU capitals such as Copenhagen, Vienna and Berlin, in two years.

The door will first be opened to highly skilled workers with commission proposals for an inter-governmental directive on conditions of entry and residence in 2007.

Following negotiations – including the sensitive issues of ‘quotas’, numbers and movement rights for immigrants – the commission will table proposals for seasonal workers in 2008.

Legislation easing entry for trainees and corporate posted non-EU workers will be tabled in 2009.

Current commission estimates put the number of work permit holders in 16 EU countries, including the UK, Germany , France, Italy and Spain, at a total of 633,200 – just 0.33 per cent of a total workforce of over 191 million.

Common strategy

European Commission Vice-President for justice and security Franco Frattini is floating the idea of a euro ‘green card’ as the EU’s population shrinks by 1.5 per cent over the next 45 years.

“It will be up to each member state to decide the number of admissions but it will be up to Europe to decide common standards,” he said.

Germany is particularly concerned over EU quotas setting admission numbers – an issue that saw Berlin opposition to early drafts of the EU constitution giving new justice powers to Europe.

Frattini revealed that he had held talks with the new German interior minister Wolfgang Schaeuble to give Germany assurances.

“I spoke to the new interior minister Mr Schaeuble. He said he can accept that Brussels can impose rules on numbers. OK. It is up to each member state to decide how many, or whether, people are admitted every year,” he said.

The 'green card' would use the latest ID technology and would follow, by then, established EU moves on biometric passports and visas, taking some of the political heat out of proposals.

Following EU proposals allowing third country researchers residence breaks, employers will be involved in policing schemes.

“A single application for a joint work/residence permit – held by the worker and containing the most advance biometric identifiers – could be proposed,” states the commission text.

“While not significantly affecting national internal procedures, it would simplify procedures for immigrants and employers. In orders to limit abuses and to fight against illegal employment, the financial responsibility of each employer could be engaged.”

“The validity of such a document should be inextricably linked to the existence of a legal work contract.”

Knock-on effects

Another aspect of Frattini’s proposals is the concern in some EU capitals that liberal or economic driven migration policies could have a knock on effect across Europe.

“It must be noted that whilst decisions on admission numbers for economic migrants entering the EU in order to seek work are the responsibility of the member states, it is clear that the admission of third-country nationals in one member state may affect others and their labour markets,” notes the commission.

Germany was furious over a Spanish amnesty of over 500,000 illegal immigrants this February, Berlin argued that migrants would travel elsewhere into the EU and put pressure on Europe’s borders.

Some national officials have blamed Spain for adding to Europe’s pull on immigrants, indirectly contributing to tragic events at Ceuta and Melilla this autumn.

Border installations surrounding Spanish enclaves on the north eastern Moroccan coast were rushed by hundreds of African immigrants and a number were killed.

Over the last 20 years, EU countries have ‘regularised’ the immigration status of 3.7m people – from a variety of migration routes.

Integration

The commission is also to propose measures to aid the “integration” of migrants, a issue close to Frattini’s heart amid fears of Islamist terrorism originating with alienated immigrant communities.

Frattini has urged EU member states to introduce “loyalty oaths” allowing migrants to pledge allegiance to European or national norms of citizenship.

“[Programmes] should include information packages for newly arrived economic immigrants, as well as language and civic orientation courses aimed at ensuring that immigrants understand, respect and benefit from common European and national values,” argues the text.

Wednesday’s commission ‘policy plan on legal migration’ tackles a subject that was only two years ago a “political taboo” among EU national governments preoccupied with immigration crackdowns.

Asylum down

Plummeting asylum claims have taken some of the sting out of the immigration debate, UN figures this year put the number of asylum seekers arriving in industrialised countries at the lowest level since 1988.

In Germany the number of asylum claimants is the lowest since 1984, in the Netherlands since 1988 and the number of asylum seekers arriving in the UK has decreased 61 per cent in two years.

The fall in asylum seekers, combined with high profile tragedies involving migrants seeking to enter ‘fortress’ Europe, concerns over a growing black economy driven by labour shortages have changed the political climate.

Moves in the direction of legal migration would also give the EU a “something for something” leg to stand on in negotiations with countries that the origin of immigrants.

Something for something

EU officials have long been concerned that outside family reunification for existing migrants there is no legal route for immigrants seeking work or a better life - as opposed to the limited rights of refugees seeking asylum from persecution.

As Europe steps up hard-line immigration policy, deportations of failed asylum seekers or refugees has seen the issue of “readmission” rise up the agenda.

As the EU disburses millions of euros to non-EU countries such as Morocco, to provide technology or training for local border guards and to take back migrants, demands to open Europe’s doors have grown.

Another argument gaining ground is the question of remittances. Cash sent home by migrants now outstrips development aid and is increasingly regarded as an efficient way of fighting poverty in the developing world.

European moves to cut the fiscal red tape and costs surrounding remittances are seen as tackling one of the root causes of migration – legal or otherwise.

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