Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-11-19-Speech-3-213"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20081119.18.3-213"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:translated text |
"−
Mr President, this rich debate shows the quality of the reports made. I would once again like to thank the rapporteurs and the draftsmen of the opinion, Mr Masiel, Mrs Jeleva and Mrs Panayotopoulos, and say that, indeed, as our debates have shown, this is a great step forward for agreement on legal immigration. Four years ago, no one wanted to hear about community tools. We know that in a few years’ time, we will be able to go further.
Finally, to answer Mr Fava, recital 16 of the Council text does include the principle of equal treatment in terms of pay for third-country workers and Community nationals for equal work. This is implemented by Article 15(1) of the same text.
I also congratulate the Commission, through Mr Barrot, who was able to launch this debate and ensure that our ambitions in this area grew rapidly. Well done to the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs too. Mr Deprez found the right words, balance and the voice of reason; he supports an open Europe and I welcome that. One or two nuances aside, Mrs Roure also wants Europe to be ready for the century of population movements, which is what we are trying to achieve. As Mrs Lefrançois pointed out, these two texts are a start and not an end, and do leave room for circular migrations.
On the question of Community preference as raised by Mrs Grabowska and Mrs Gál, and by Mr Fava and Mr Catania, in particular, I would point out that the Blue Card will not apply until 2011, by which time the transitional measures of the accession treaties will have come to an end, and that it offers a status that is not equivalent to the status of EU citizens. Furthermore, we are ready and wish to include in the text the principle of Community preference enshrined in the accession treaties.
As for the numerous remarks about the brain drain – in particular those of Mr Kreissl-Dörfler and Mr Borghezio, Mrs Budreikaitė, Mr Moreno, Mrs Lambert and Mrs Roure, I believe the European Parliament has expressed its legitimate concerns about including in the Blue Card safeguards to transform the brain drain into a brain gain, and it seems to me that there are three main ways to do this.
First of all, the directive does not, in any way, prevail over European agreements or agreements between certain Member States and the countries of origin, who draw up lists of professions to be excluded from its scope to ensure ethical recruitment in sectors hit by a labour shortage. Secondly, Member States must be offered responsibility in the context of case-by-case examination: they must be able to reject a Blue Card request to ensure ethical recruitment. Finally, the directive must be able to promote the circular migration of highly qualified workers and, of course, emphasise, as has already been pointed out, the requirements for training in the country of origin.
On the other hand, it does not seem to me necessary to prevent issuance of Blue Cards systematically if there is no agreement with the country of origin. As Mr Barrot pointed out, I think that this would create discrimination and transfer the requests to national systems, and that it is therefore preferable to negotiate on a case by case basis.
Concerning the distinction made between highly qualified workers and unskilled workers, a subject mentioned by Mr Busuttil and Mrs Lefrançois, in particular, and by Mrs Lambert, I believe we must move forward by stages. At present, there is unfortunately no consensus on legal migration to act at Community level on all labour market segments. Nonetheless, we are moving forward since there is a single set of rights for all third-party workers in the European Union, and we must start with the highly qualified, seasonal, posted and trainee workers. The Stockholm programme may enable us to make progress.
Contrary to what was stated by Mrs Flautre and other speakers, the rights guaranteed by the Blue Card do not include any restrictions regarding freedom of association or the rights attached to employment, quite the opposite, and this Blue Card will be the only tool allowing migrants to exercise a right to mobility to undertake qualified professional work in the European Union, which is not possible today via national systems. This is the major advantage of this text.
Also, to answer Mr Pirker regarding the period after which these benefits will cease in the event of unemployment – it is true there is a three month period – the Presidency of the European Union would have liked this period to be longer than what is proposed, but no consensus was reached in this area. Indeed, some Member States even wanted there to be no period at all, which, clearly, was not the wish expressed by the Presidency."@en1
|
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples