Friday, September 28, 2007
[IWS] EUROPEAN "BLUE CARD" [Immigration] [26 September 2007]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
European Parliament
European "blue card" to solve problem of aging population? [26 September 2007]
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/public/story_page/018-10568-267-09-39-902-20070921STO10548-2007-24-09-2007/default_en.htm
Immigrants may hold the answer
Europe is facing a demographic crisis. Forecasts show that by 2050 two
workers will have to support one retired person, compared with four
workers now. Could immigration be the answer? One suggestion is a
"European blue card system" - like the US green card - for skilled third
country workers. Two MEPs, dealing with immigration, tell us what they
think.
Commission Vice-President Franco Frattini says the EU must learn to
compete with the US, which attracts most of the mobile skilled labour in
the world. He therefore proposes the "blue card", a specialised residence
permit for skilled third-country workers, which would ensure equal
treatment at work. It would allow them to live and work in a given EU
member state for an initial, renewable, period of two years, after which
they could work in another EU country. "We have to look at immigration as
an enrichment and as an inescapable phenomenon of today's world not as a
threat".
Most skilled migrants go to US
The aim is to tackle Europe's looming demographic crisis by attracting
some 20 million extra workers from abroad. "The challenge is to attract
the workers needed to fill specific gaps," said Frattini. He said that 85%
of unskilled labour goes to EU and 5% to the US, whereas 55% of skilled
labour goes to the US and only 5% to the EU.
Italian Socialist Lilli Gruber and Spanish Socialist Javier Moreno Sanchez
are reporting to the House on legal and illegal immigration respectively,
so we asked their opinion on a European blue card system.
"A step in the right direction"
"This is a first step in the right direction - even if it's timid." said
Ms Gruber. "Apart from the 'préférence communautaire' applied in large
sectors of our economic policies, there's no question that a real demand
exists for specific skills, varying from one country to another, which
can't be met inside the EU. In those cases, it's fair to open our doors."
However, she also said care must be taken "not to drain away the reservoir
of skills that countries need, without offering anything in exchange. To
fight illegal immigration - apart from its criminal phenomena - we need to
open and define legal ways to enter the EU, but also increase our forces
to stimulate the growing democracy and economy of those countries."
Mr Moreno Sanchez supports "measures that favour legal channels of
immigration to the EU, fundamental to curb clandestine immigration and to
fight against networks of human trafficking." He also stresses the
importance of "the external dimension of a European migration policy."
"This is only an initial step, focused on qualified workers and it will be
necessary to continue to work on the establishment of a common status for
the rest of immigrant workers, whom we need as much from the demographic
point of view as from the economic one", he added.
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
European Parliament
European "blue card" to solve problem of aging population? [26 September 2007]
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/public/story_page/018-10568-267-09-39-902-20070921STO10548-2007-24-09-2007/default_en.htm
Immigrants may hold the answer
Europe is facing a demographic crisis. Forecasts show that by 2050 two
workers will have to support one retired person, compared with four
workers now. Could immigration be the answer? One suggestion is a
"European blue card system" - like the US green card - for skilled third
country workers. Two MEPs, dealing with immigration, tell us what they
think.
Commission Vice-President Franco Frattini says the EU must learn to
compete with the US, which attracts most of the mobile skilled labour in
the world. He therefore proposes the "blue card", a specialised residence
permit for skilled third-country workers, which would ensure equal
treatment at work. It would allow them to live and work in a given EU
member state for an initial, renewable, period of two years, after which
they could work in another EU country. "We have to look at immigration as
an enrichment and as an inescapable phenomenon of today's world not as a
threat".
Most skilled migrants go to US
The aim is to tackle Europe's looming demographic crisis by attracting
some 20 million extra workers from abroad. "The challenge is to attract
the workers needed to fill specific gaps," said Frattini. He said that 85%
of unskilled labour goes to EU and 5% to the US, whereas 55% of skilled
labour goes to the US and only 5% to the EU.
Italian Socialist Lilli Gruber and Spanish Socialist Javier Moreno Sanchez
are reporting to the House on legal and illegal immigration respectively,
so we asked their opinion on a European blue card system.
"A step in the right direction"
"This is a first step in the right direction - even if it's timid." said
Ms Gruber. "Apart from the 'préférence communautaire' applied in large
sectors of our economic policies, there's no question that a real demand
exists for specific skills, varying from one country to another, which
can't be met inside the EU. In those cases, it's fair to open our doors."
However, she also said care must be taken "not to drain away the reservoir
of skills that countries need, without offering anything in exchange. To
fight illegal immigration - apart from its criminal phenomena - we need to
open and define legal ways to enter the EU, but also increase our forces
to stimulate the growing democracy and economy of those countries."
Mr Moreno Sanchez supports "measures that favour legal channels of
immigration to the EU, fundamental to curb clandestine immigration and to
fight against networks of human trafficking." He also stresses the
importance of "the external dimension of a European migration policy."
"This is only an initial step, focused on qualified workers and it will be
necessary to continue to work on the establishment of a common status for
the rest of immigrant workers, whom we need as much from the demographic
point of view as from the economic one", he added.
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
# posted by SBasefsky : 5:10 AM
