There will be more legal ways for migrants to come to Europe. The European Commission announced this on Wednesday. This new policy aims, among other things, to prevent migrants from taking a dangerous journey to Europe. At the same time, it should provide a solution for serious shortages in the European labor market.
The Commission’s proposal is politically sensitive: anti-migration politicians see it as an undesirable boost to migration. According to the Commission, with this policy, Europe will bring in desired workers and will make it easier to combat illegal migration. Migration is partly the competence of Member States. Highly skilled migrants often already enter the EU, encouraged by a state or a company.
Study or work
To promote legal migration routes, the EU is making funds available for humanitarian aid, among other things. Member States also receive financial support for bringing in migrants for study or work. Member States will be encouraged to allow citizens, communities and civil society organizations to sponsor refugees.
The European Commission will initially focus on labor migration in the field of health care and ICT. In health care in particular, the aim is to have people from outside Europe work here for a longer period of time, in order to alleviate the shortages on the labor market. In the last quarter of last year, 2.6 percent of vacancies in the EU remained unfilled, the highest percentage in years. With 4.2 percent of the jobs that cannot be filled, the Netherlands is one of the frontrunners.
Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt
A pilot project with migrants from some North African countries has been successful, Greek Commissioner Margarítis Schinás (Promoting the European way of life) said in an explanation of the plan. That is why the Commission is also committed to partnerships with Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt. The Commission also wants to create a ‘talent pool’ for the millions of Ukrainian refugees who are expected to stay in the EU for a longer period of time; employers can then see who they can use from that pool.
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Schinás: “We are constantly getting requests from companies that tell us: we don’t have the people we need. This applies to the agrifood, digital, tourism and healthcare sectors. It’s simple: we need people. That is why we make the link with the usefulness that migrants can have for the EU.”
Language training
For less well-educated migrants, the EU offers (language) training in their home country, said Swedish European Commissioner Ylva Johansson (Internal Affairs). But to prevent all qualified workers from leaving a country, legal migration plans must be accompanied by development aid.
It will also be made easier for migrants to apply for a visa for the EU: the visa procedure will be digitalised. Now that procedure is still “difficult,” said Johansson. An applicant must leave his or her passport at an embassy or consulate, sometimes in another country, after which a paper visa is affixed to the passport. Both the application and the visa itself will be digital in the future.