Policy recommendations

  • To address the internal push factors for migration, the EU should provide adequate assistance to developing countries and achieve the target of 0.7% of GDP for development cooperation. It should help developing countries to devise effective strategies to retain highly skilled workers, e.g. through development programmes aimed at improving local employment opportunities and working conditions. This is especially necessary in the health sector.
  • The EU should provide targeted investments to train, deploy and retain staff in developing countries who are working in sensitive sectors such as education and health. The EU should also provide long-term budgetary support to underpin the domestic financing of those sectors.
  • The EU should ensure that all its member states sign a legally binding commitment that includes the private sector in order to prevent active recruitment in developing countries. Such a code of practice should address country- or region-specific needs. Furthermore, in order to ensure compliance, the EU should set up a formally constituted body with an oversight and watchdog role in the EU and developing countries.
  • To prevent a negative impact on source countries, the EU should introduce concrete measures to encourage the permanent return of Blue Card holders. Within the EU the portability of social rights should be facilitated. In developing countries, migrants should be offered benefits in order to encourage their return.
  • If the EU attracts workers whose education and training have been provided by their home countries, then these countries of origin should be appropriately compensated for having provided these skills. 
  • The EU should encourage its member states to strengthen their own (national) workforce policies in all sectors in order to become less dependent on foreign workers from less developed countries.

Case: Blue Card

12-05-2011 AFET report on migration flows

On behalf of the AFET committee in the EP, MEP Fiorello Provera (EFD) wrote a report on migration flows arising from instability. The main causes for these migration flows are wars, armed conflicts, ethnic tension, natural disasters, the lack of proper economic and democratic structures; which are a challenge for the European Union. The tension that these migrations cause are not only in the country of origin, but also between the countries of origin and the countries of transit. In order to meet this challenge effectively, the EU must implement a policy of prevention, employing the most appropriate foreign policy instruments in order to address the causes of instability directly so that emigration becomes an opportunity and not a necessity.

The European policy on migration should combine development cooperation measures with a more comprehensive political vision encompassing security, regional cooperation, bilateral agreements between the countries of origin and the countries of transit, the safeguarding of human rights and democratisation.
The actions that need to be taken are:
- countries of origin and countries of transit need to achieve greater economic and institutional stability;
- in addition to election monitoring missions, the EU should step up its own mediation and conflict-prevention effort in cooperation with regional organisations, such as the AU;
- bilateral immigration agreements should be negotiated with transit countries;
- an economic agenda should be developed to raise employment levels in EUs partner countries, and encourage to bring national immigrants laws in line with national standards;
- the EU should encourage the Union for the Mediterranean to regard issues relating to migration flows arising from instabilities as priorities;
- finally, the Commission should seek to enhance synergies between the development pillar and the stability and security pillar.

Fair Politics welcomes this report by the AFET committee as it points out the relation between migration and development. It strives for social and economic development in the country of origin, which are mainly developing countries. They put the migration policy objectives at the centre of the political dialogue with countries of origin and transit, as well as the need to enhance policy coherence for development. This report will be a comprehensive migration policy which is linked to all development strategies and instruments and founded on a high level of political and operational solidarity, mutual trust, transparency, partnership, shared responsibility and joint efforts based on common principles and concrete actions, and on the values enshrined in the Lisbon Treaty.
For strongly pointing out the PCD aspect in this migration report MEP Fiorella Provera (EFD)  is granted two points in our monitoring system.

On behalf of the DEVE committee, MEP Corina Creţu (S&D) wrote an opinion in which she states that the EU has a major role to play in making migration a lever for development and that a development-oriented action can help to tackle the root causes of migration flows. Migration flows can help on the other hand to boost economic growth and social empowerment as well as stimulating governance reform in countries of origin. Next to this MEP Creţu calls for additional efforts to promote policy coherence in respect of development within the EUs migration policy and to refrain from using ODA for policies aimed at deterring and controlling migration, often in violation of migrants human rights. Another good point that she makes it that she stresses the importance of integrating migration into partner countries national development strategies in order to reduce poverty and achieve the MDGs.

For writing the opinion on the report: Migration Flows arising from Instability: Scope and Role of the EU Foreign Policy and calling for policy coherence in respect of development we monitor MEP Cretu as a Fair Politician and grant her with two points in our monitoring system.

On the draft opinion by the DEVE committee many amendments were written. Many were minor additions or small changes to make the works stronger. Few new amendments were written with a strong voice to improve the development aspects in migration.
Amendment 3 by Franziska Keller and Catherine Grčze (Green/EFA) point out that forced migration is the result of a failing economy, impoverishment of the population, human rights violations, environment degradation, the widening gap between rich and poor countries, civil war, wars for control of natural resources and political persecutions.
Amendment 6 by Eleni Theocharous (EPP) calls the EU policies to support remittance inflows.
Amendment 12 by Birgit Schnieber-Jastram (EPP) urges the stepping up of efforts aimed at the negative effects of the brain drain and asks the Commission to study whether circular migration schemes are a useful instrument and which type of circularity could produce the best result for both developing  and development countries.
Amendment 16 by Franziska Keller and Catherine Grčze (Green/EFA) welcomes the WHO Code of Conduct on the International recruitment of qualified health personnel and calls upon the EU Member States to respect it and avoid aggressively recruiting health personnel from developing countries.
Amendment 18 by Franziska Keller and Catherine Grčze (Green/EFA) demands that Member States and the European Commissions commitment to the PCD, to support developing countries with guaranteeing decent income, peace and democracy for the population, which is an alternative to reduce clandestine immigration.
Amendment 12 by Birgit Schnieber-Jastram (EPP) calls for the additional efforts to promote PCD and to refrain from using ODA for policies aimed at deterring and controlling migration, to be used for effective development and thereby reducing migration caused by poverty, political instability and political oppression.

Above selected amendments all point out the development aspect related to migration flows and for writing these, Fair Politics therefore grants these MEP with one point in or monitoring system towards the Fair Politician of the Year Award in June.

Monitor fair: EFD(2), S&D(2), Greens/EFA(3), EPP(3)