An EU 'Blue Card' for high-skilled immigrants?[fr][de] 

In the future, the EU will be facing a number of interlinked challenges, according to official projections: 

• As a result of demograpic changes, there will be one retired person for every two workers as early as 2050, questioning the sustainability of retirement schemes.
• As employment rates rise, it is getting harder to match Europe's growing demand for high-skilled labour with an overall receding supply of specialists, especially in the technology field.
• Emerging economies like China and India are training more technicians and engineers than Europe, which may as a result no longer be able to assert its position as a global innovation leader. 
• Countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Switzerland manage to attract the lion's share of the world's specialists willing to migrate, including many people trained in the EU. According to figures presented by Commissioner Frattini in the European Parliament, 85% of unskilled labour migration goes to the EU and 5% to the US, whereas 55% of skilled labour goes to the US and only 5% to the EU. According to figures cited by researcher Heike Pethe , high-skilled workers made up for less than 3% of total immigration to Germany in 2000-2003. 

The Portuguese Presidency was the first to tackle these issues, with a High Level Conference on Legal Immigration organised on 13-14 September 2007 in Lisbon. On this occasion, the Commission presented its proposal for the so-called Blue Card , which aims to attract 20 million mainly high-skilled workers from outside the EU. 

The proposed EU Blue Card sets out to be the EU's major tool in the global competition for highly mobile high-skilled workers. The Blue Card seeks to create a single application procedure for non-EU workers to reside and work within the EU. At the same time it aims to establish a common set of rights for workers in all member states. 

The following table compares the proposed Blue Card with its main competitor, the US Green Card: 

Under the Blue Card proposal, EU countries will have leeway to define quotas for the non-EU high-skilled workers they allow onto their territory. Germany and Austria are among the member states which are expected to apply restrictive quotas. 

At the same time as the Blue Card proposal, the Commission published a separate proposal  on "a single application procedure for a single permit for third-country nationals to reside and work in the territory of a member state and on a common set of rights for third-country workers legally residing in a member state". This second proposal, which affects the working and living conditions for third-country workers, is considered to have at least the same potential effect on the immigraiton of workers with excellent qualifications as the Blue Card proposal. 

Third countries - mostly those in Africa, but also the EU's neighbouring states to the east - have expressed concern that the Blue Card will further aggravate the exisiting 'brain drain' problem, which means that those countries' young elites, rather than trying to find a job locally and help boost the local economy, go for higher salaries, better working conditions and more job security in wealthier parts of the world, including Europe. In many African countries, this phenomenon concerns not only scientists but also well-qualified health sector staff. 

On the other hand, third countries and most importantly the US have become so attractive for young scientists that Europe itself is experiencing a constant loss of graduates to across the Atlantic. In 2007, 270,000 high-skilled Europeans emigrated to the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. A November 2003 survey by the European Commission found that only 13% of of European science professionals working abroad intended to return home.

With respect to the brain drain into as well as out of the EU, it has repeatedly been stressed, however, that every migration decision is a personal one and can therefore only to a certain extent be influenced by regulation. In any case, laws can only partly solve the challenge of making Europe a more attractive place for highly-qualified specialists to work at and of promoting it as such, and they will not contribute to a necessary change of mindset with parts of the EU population to make immigration more acceptable. 

Development NGOs and UN organisations have suggested that Europe might give back at least part of its benefits from high-skilled migration to countries of origin in the South. They would also benefit from circular migration, where specialists could spend a limited period of time in Europe to develop their skills, which could then be brought to use in their countries of origin. 

It has been questioned whether the level of income that a third-county national will receive in the EU is a sufficiently valid criterium for deciding on the person's benefits. The Commission proposes an annual gross salary of three times the national minimum wage (with no clear dispositions for those countries where such a minimum wage does not exist), while Germany for instance demands a work contract of over €80,000 a year. It has been argued that deciding who will be allowed onto the labour market should be left to the member state's discretion. 

The Blue Card proposal is not expected to go down easily with some member states; most prominently Germany and Austria. Franz Müntefering, then German employment minister, attacked the proposal quite fiercely, insisting that employment ministers must be involved: "This is no matter to be casually decided by home affairs ministers - and also not by the commissioner in charge of home affairs. This is not a matter for the Commission at all. It must be the responsibility of national parliaments and governments."

When he presented the Blue Card proposal on 23 October 2007 in Strasbourg, Commission President José Manuel Barroso said: "Labour migration into Europe boosts our competitiveness and therefore our economic growth. It also helps tackle demographic problems resulting from our ageing population. This is particularly the case for highly skilled labour." Barroso added: "With the EU Blue Card we send a clear signal: Highly skilled people from all over the world are welcome in the European Union." 

He stressed, however: "Let me be clear: I am not announcing today that we are opening the doors to 20 million high-skilled workers. The Blue Card is not a 'blank cheque'. It is not a right to admission, but a demand-driven approach and a common European procedure." Barroso went on to stress that "member states will have broad flexibility to determine their labour market needs and decide on the number of high-skilled workers they would like to welcome". 

Addressing possible adverse effects of high-skilled workers' country of origin, the Commission president said: "With regard to developing countries we are very much aware of the need to avoid negative "brain drain" effects. Therefore, the proposal promotes ethical recruitment standards to limit – if not ban – active recruitment by member states in developing countries in some sensitive sectors. It also contains measures to facilitate so-called "circular migration". Europe stands ready to cooperate with developing countries in this area."

Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini said on the same occasion: "Europe's ability to attract highly skilled migrants is a measure of its international strength. We want Europe to become at least as attractive as favourite migration destinations such as Australia, Canada and the USA. We have to make highly skilled workers change their perception of Europe's labour market governed as they are by inconsistent admission procedures. Failing this, Europe will continue to receive low-skilled and medium-skilled migrants only. A new vision and new tools are indispensable for reversing this trend. We will also minimise the risk of brain drain from developing countries."

MEP Jean-Marie Cavada  (ALDE, France), the chairman of Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee, said: "At a time when the EU is experiencing an ageing of its active population and a penury of skilled labour in certain key sectors [...] we shall examine carefully the provisions of these two directives, and notably the safeguards they provide to limit the brain drain from developing countries, for socio-economic rights and for the right of family members to join these skilled workers." 

German MEP Manfred Weber, the rapporteur on the draft directive for the return of illegal immigrants, said on behalf of the centre-right EPP-ED  Group: "Europe is not attractive enough for highly-qualified workers. The European Union needs these mostly young people - they contribute to innovation and thus help create jobs. However, the question is what criteria will be applied to select these highly-qualified immigrants. The proposed threshold of three times the minimum wage is too low." 

Weber added: "The new rules must not put additional pressure on the millions of unemployed in the EU member states. In addition, only member states must have the competence to decide on the size of immigration flows."  

Italian Socialist MEP Claudio Fava, who will be rapporteur on the directive on sanctions for employers of illegal immigrants, said: "The Socialist Group positively welcomes the European Commission proposal on the Blue Card for highly-skilled workers, but at the same time, it believes that the final text should be braver. In addition to the legal channels of immigration, there should be true and effective free movement of workers on all of the European territory. Limiting this mobility would signify a myopic approach, influenced by national interests and against the idea of an open, economically and competitively advanced Europe. It is also necessary to urgently open the channels of legal migration for non-skilled workers - an indispensable measure in the fight against the increase of work on the black market and the exploitation which immigrants suffer due to the lack of European norms." 

UK MEP Jean Lambert, spokesperson for the Greens/EFA Group on immigration, said: "The proposed Blue Card [...] is supposed to make the EU more attractive as a destination in the global 'talent war' but the Commission risks undermining its own goal. It is a serious source of regret that the Commission is proposing restrictions on mobility within the EU to accompany the card. Mobility is one of the fundamental freedoms in the EU and restrictions for one group of EU residents smacks of double standards. The linking of the 'Blue Card' initiative with the presentation of a general directive on minimum rights for migrant workers is certainly welcome and reflects the need for a comprehensive approach to migration policy. The debate on migration at EU-level has been far too preoccupied with irrational crackdowns on illegal immigration but the reality is that the possibility of legal immigration is crucial to a coherent approach to the issue."  

UK MEP Philip Bradbourn, Conservative spokesman on justice and home affairs, described the Blue Card proposal "is the wrong answer to the wrong question". "What we should be addressing is the wave of illegal migration into the EU before we tackle skills shortages," he said. 

Bradbourn added: "The proposal as it stands will open a Pandora's box to those who seek to migrate to the EU without any of the controls necessary to ensure that those who employ illegal migrants are tackled and those illegal migrants who are caught are sent back to their country of origin. The proposal will encourage more people to undertake hazardous journeys from all corners of the world in the hope that they will get a work permit which once issued will give them free range to move across the whole of Europe." 

John Monks, general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), said: "Immigration cannot be an easy solution for dealing with labour market shortages and demographic change. The social partners must be involved in assessing real labour market needs and investment in training of unemployed workers – including those from a migrant or minority ethnic background – is a first priority. We will also have to make jobs in sectors where there are shortages more attractive to the locally unemployed in terms of wages and working conditions."

Hans-Werner Müller, secretary-general of SME organisation UEAPME, said: "The European Commission rightly decided to tackle the issue of legal migration by focusing on certain categories of employees. A sector-by-sector approach, which UEAPME favours and requested several times, is crucial to ensure that Europe can benefit more from legal migration in the coming years." 

However, Müller stressed the need to tackle the high unemployment rates in most EU countries at the same time and with the same energy: "Improving the integration in the labour market of the unemployed, which are an untapped source of talent, should remain high on the list of priorities."