On Tuesday, the bloc’s executive will call for EU member states to agree on improved integration schemes for immigrants, establish joint visa centres abroad and to identify and re-evaluate labour needs.
The issue of immigration remains a sensitive one for the member states of the European Union as there is increasing pressure to allow more migrants in to take on the jobs and positions becoming vacant as a result of an aging population which clashes with people’s fears of increased immigration.
According to a draft acquired by Reuters, the European Commission is expected to say that migration is crucial in contributing to the EU’s potential to grow by helping increase the prosperity of member states through reducing shortages in the labour market. Moreover, this economic potential will be realised only if migrants are able to successfully integrate into the labour market of the host country.
Some EU nations commended the plan, whereas other member states such as Austria and Germany were against an immigration policy that applied to all EU member states saying they preferred to be in command of their own labour markets. However, drafts of the text state that the national immigration policy in EU member states affects every other member. Subsequently, the European Commission said that it is preferable that there be common immigration policies.
The draft text said that no member states could efficiently deal with every aspect of immigration on their own. However, some member states have followed in Germany’s footsteps and resisted any agreement of common policies with regard to migration in order to maintain control over their own labour markets.
The European Commission has proposed that every EU state create “migration profiles” which provide an outline of the labour market as well as existing migrants and make note of additional needs. In addition, it encourages improved communication with native countries of immigrants and seeks to establish consular centres abroad which are the same in all EU states.
An EU official has said that the more comprehensive ideas on how to encourage and progress integration would probably be left out of the final version, which is expected to stop short of supporting a French proposal of an ‘integration contract’ to be signed by migrants. Paris is in the process of drafting an immigration pack which it hopes the bloc’s leaders will take on in October. An early draft of the pack suggested that immigrants learn the values and language of the country they are living in.
