Employers of illegal migrants will face heavy sanctions[fr][de] 

The document, which was adopted by a clear majority of MEPs in the European Parliament’s civil liberties committee on Tuesday (4 November), will guide negotiations with EU member states on a proposed directive to sanction employers of illegal migrants. 

The EU institutions see the initiative as part of a wide-ranging policy plan, including the Return Directive and the Blue Card scheme, to discourage illegal stays in Europe while facilitating legal migration. 

The Parliament estimates that between 4.5 and eight million immigrants live illegally in the EU. Illegal immigrants form a sizeable fraction of the workforce in sectors such as agriculture, the building industry and hospitality. 

The 'Sanctions Directive' will introduce EU-wide minimum penalties for employers of illegal migrants. Fines will increase in proportion to the number of illegal immigrants employed. Payment of overdue taxes and contributions will have to be covered, while guilty companies will be excluded from public procurement tenders and aid for up to five years. 

Criminal sanctions would also follow should the employer re-offend or use a large number of illegal migrants, or when there is evidence of violence, exploitation or human trafficking. 

MEPs also want to make contracting parties jointly responsible for the use of illegal labour by sub-contractors. To that effect, they introduced a clause to further penalise employers of minor irregular migrants. 

Member states would have to ensure that illegal workers can file complaints against their employers. MEPs proposed that civil society organisations should be able to help illegal migrants in this process without facing legal proceedings for assisting them. 

The European Parliament also called on member states to constantly monitor the situation by carrying out "a sufficient number of effective inspections". 

The amended text adopted this week in the committee will guide negotiations with the Council, where southern countries on the one hand and Germany, Poland, Sweden and the Netherlands on the other disagree over the issue of criminal sanctions (EurActiv 25/07/08). 

Rapporteur Claudio Fava has, however, already started talks with the Council Presidency and aims to reach a first-reading agreement so the directive can be adopted in plenary this December.