Mate: End to Labour Barriers Must Precede Migrant Worker System
Interior Minister Dragutin Mate told a meeting of EU interior ministers in Brussels on Thursday that the EU cannot implement a system of circular migration for foreign workers before all the internal labour restrictions in the bloc are lifted.
Mate was one of the ministers who questioned the sense of circular migration system proposed by the European Commission in a bid to promote legal migration of workers in occupations where the EU has a shortage, before internal restrictions are lifted.
Many countries that joined the EU in the most recent rounds of enlargement, including Slovenia, believe that internal labour restrictions need to be abolished before such a migrant worker system can be put into practice.
"Circular migrations are a possibility, but a solution must first be found to providing free movement of labour between the old and new members," Mate explained Slovenia's stance.
The European Commission believes these are two separate issues. The goal of its proposal is to allow seasonal workers to be imported from outside the EU to fill gaps in certain sectors, particularly agriculture and construction.
The Commission believes that such a system would also stem the flow of illegal immigrants, mostly from Africa, who are looking for a better life in the EU.
European Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security Franco Frattini stressed that the gradual abolishment of internal restriction remained a priority for the Commission.
He added that the system of circular migration concerns a completely different issue, since it involves seasonal workers, who would be allowed to stay in the EU for only up to six months.
Frattini added that quotas on the number of migrants who would be allowed in under the system would be set by individual member states and that there would be no EU-wide quota.
He said that in return the Commission expected from African countries serious efforts to reign in illegal migration and a commitment to receive workers following the end of their term in a seasonal job.
Meanwhile, the EU is also tackling illegal migration by increasing awareness in African countries about job possibilities in the bloc. The EU has already set up an information office in Mali that dispenses information about possibilities for legal migration.
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