A go-ahead to the "blue card" for immigrant workers, a stop to the regulation that would extend the max working time to 65 hours/week versus the current 48 hours/week. The two decisions were passed yesterday by two commissions of the European Parliament. The "civil freedoms" Commission supports the "plan for admission" of highly-skilled workers (engineers, IT operators, researchers) that had been proposed last year by Barroso’s Commission, involving the release of a "blue card", something like the US "green card", to control the entry of 20 million people in the next 20 years, not least to "face explains MEP Ewa Klamt the population decrease in Europe". The German MEP explains that the EU card "will act as a temporary residence and work permit for three years, renewable for another two years, including social security". This blue card "would authorise workers who have spent three years in a European country to enter another country of the Union after that". The "social affairs and employment" Commission rejected instead the possibility, supported by the Council, for employer and employee to agree on working up to 65 hours a week: the regulation will be voted on by the plenary meeting in December.
