EU mulls green card
EU Justice Chief Franco Frattini has mooted the idea of introducing a US-style green card system to encourage the influx of immigrants with special skills.
Permanent work visas based on the American model is one of the ideas proposed by the EU as a way to combat a shortage of skilled labour in Europe combined with an ageing population.
The Frattini plan belonged to an initiative to encourage European governments to agree on the contentious issue of common immigration standards in the EU.
Economic migrants "represent an undeniable advantage to our member states," said Frattini, arguing that this would help Europe compete with American competitiveness.
The model proposed by the Commission would offer immigrants the right to live and work permanently in Europe.
Despite growing public opposition, Brussels is strongly in favour of boosting the number of immigrants in Europe and denies that it would open up the door for unrestricted economic migration.
It proposes to target skilled immigrant candidates to fill job shortages, in a similar way to practices already in place in several EU countries, such as Germany, the UK and the Netherlands.
However, past attempts to agree common immigration standards have floundered over disputes on whether to introduce immigrant quotas.
Frattini has pledged not to propose national quotas and has promised wide consultation with labour unions and business organisations.
EU statistics body, Eurostat, has warned that only a steady flow of immigrants will turn around the negative impact of low birth rates and raging populations.
The US and Canada already have a long tradition of recruiting educated immigrants from poorer countries.
Meanwhile, human rights organisation Amnesty International has warned EU justice ministers that asylum seekers within EU borders are being abused.
Amnesty's accusations include the denial of access to asylum procedures, unlawful detention, irregular expulsions, ill-treatment and even torture.
The organisation has listed a stream of alleged abuses by Maltese armed forces, torture at the hands of the Greek police, and accuses the Italian authorities of forcing immigrants back to Libya.
Amnesty has urged tougher action from EU ministers and the Commission to combat the problem.
For more information:
European Commission Justice and Home Affairs Department
http://www.europa.eu.int/pol/justice/index_en.htm
Amnesty international EU office
http://www.amnesty-eu.org/
|
登录
