A directive for immigrants

Problems linked to immigration from third countries were at the centre of discussions at the session of the EP, held in Strasbourg from 24 to 27 September. MEPs also discussed the proposed world moratorium on the death sentence, the activities of the CIA in Europe, the rights of rail travellers, and the need to step up controls on toys imported from China. Polish MEP JACEK SARYUSZ-WOLSKI presented a Report on “Towards a common external policy of Europe in the field of energy”. ATTRACTING “BRAINS” AND SKILLED MANPOWER. A lively debate took place on the question of immigration. The political groups (from the far right to the far left, passing through the European People’s Party, Liberal-Democrats and Socialists) supported very different positions, but were also divided internally, depending in part on the nationality of parliamentarians. It is well known that the countries most exposed to new influxes, whether legal or not, are those facing onto the Mediterranean and in the East. The European Parliament approved a report presented by Italian MEP LILLI GRUBER (557 votes in favour, 101 against, 22 abstentions), who urged a directive “that would establish a common framework of rights and obligations for immigrant workers”. The report supports measures to attract skilled manpower to the EU, “within the limits laid down by the individual states”, and calls for “measures to facilitate the integration” of workers and their families. IMMIGRANT WORKERS: RIGHTS AND DUTIES. The figures furnished by Eurostat and commented on during the debate are striking: the citizens of third countries legally resident in the 27 member states now amount to circa 18.5 million (while 9 million EU citizens reside in member states other than their own). “A global and coherent approach to immigration is thus needed”, at the Community level – argued Lilli Gruber – “since a reform of immigration policy in one member state influences influxes and trends” in the other countries of the Union. MEPs expressed their appreciation of the policy guidelines hitherto supported by the Commission. In particular, says the report passed during the session, the opening of channels of legal immigration will help to curb illegal immigration and the trafficking of human beings, since there is a close correlation between the two phenomena. The report asks the Executive, however, to “proceed to a short and medium term forecast of the supplementary manpower needed in the various member states”, both skilled and unskilled. The framework directive that the Parliament thinks indispensable would serve “to guarantee to the citizens of third countries legally employed in a member state a common framework of rights complemented by a number of obligations to be respected”. TOWARDS A COMMUNITY “BLUE CARD. The majority of MEPs, especially with a view to the development of the EU economy, support measures that can “increase the attraction of the EU in the eyes of the best qualified workers” from abroad, for which there is apparently a growing demand on the labour market. So the entry of these workers needs to be simplified, “while leaving the definition of the specific needs and quotas in terms of economic immigration to the member states”. There is growing support, however, for the proposal of a EU-wide work permit, the so-called “blue card”, to “facilitate the free circulation of brains in Europe and the transfer of personnel within multinational companies”. STOP TO IRREGULAR ENTRIES. Very different, on the other hand, is the attitude of MEPs to irregular immigration, which generates insecurity in European citizens and is at the root of the exploitation and marginalization of clandestine immigrants. The report of the Spanish MEP JAVIER MORENO SÁNCHEZ (approved with 418 in favour, 81 against and 8 abstentions) outlined a medium and long term strategy to contain it. It asks for “more humane temporary holding centres” and reinforced cooperation with the countries of origin. The report also addresses the questions of border and maritime controls (suggesting “common patrols” in the Mediterranean), calls for the automated registration of entries and departures and expulsion procedures where needed. CRACKING DOWN ON THE TRAFFICKING OF HUMAN BEINGS. In this case too the data are alarming: the number of immigrants without residence permits who irregularly reside in the EU fluctuates between 4.5 and 8 million; they come from Africa, Eastern Europe and also from more distant regions, such as China, Central Asia, Russia, and South America. While on the one hand the EP recognizes the fact that the Union ought “to equip itself with the means to grasp the threefold opportunity – economic, demographic and social – that immigration could represent for our societies”, on the other it underlines the necessary respect for the laws, and the duty to crackdown on the trafficking of human beings and clandestine work. Finally, the regularization of illegal immigrants en masse is to be rejected.