Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-02-03-Speech-2-061"
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"en.20090203.5.2-061"2
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"Madam President, we very much appreciate the work of both Mr Fava in the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and Ms Bauer in the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs. I think we in this House will have to get used to the enhanced cooperation procedure on measures which actually link employment and migration.
As has already been said, this is supposed to be part of the common immigration policy of the European Union, dealing with the pull factor of possible work, often within the informal economy and amongst vulnerable and non-organised workers. However, it can also apply where there are genuine vacancies, which cannot be filled from the national labour pool, and where Member States are not issuing sufficient work permits, or where there is a creaking bureaucracy that cannot respond quickly enough to applications with a labour-market purpose. There is also a gap that we have yet to fill for people for whom no return to their country of origin is possible – for example, to Zimbabwe – and who are often left legally destitute, as it were, and, therefore, need to find a way to keep themselves alive.
The majority of Member States already have, in theory, measures in place to deal with the situation of irregular migration, and you would think that would signal an apparent commitment to action. Yet the Commission proposals on inspection in its original document have been really watered down, and Parliament has had to fight to get even what we have currently in Article 15. It is to be hoped that those inspections will not just pick off small businesses but will actually look at some of the larger enterprises that rely very heavily, at the bottom end, on vulnerable workers. That is why the issue of subcontractor liability was extremely important to many of us in this House. Some of us consider that what we are left with is, again, a watered-down version of the Commission’s original proposal.
People have mentioned the issue of the residence permit, where Member States may choose to make this available for particularly severe cases where complaints have been brought. That, I suppose, is a step forward – at least from where some Member States were.
One of the issues that has concerned many of us is remuneration – when you cannot determine what the length of an employment contract was – and issues regarding payment of national insurance and tax, which we know for many vulnerable workers are often taken out of their pay packets but not necessarily handed on to the authorities.
For many of us, this issue about payment for work done is a question of principle; it is also that companies and economies have benefited and that this is not supposed to be a legislative measure to punish the irregular migrant. It is also – if you are looking at this as part of an overall policy – part of a sustainable return that people will actually go back with what they have earned.
We have no guarantee that Member States will ensure that people are paid. We have an assurance that mechanisms will be in place so that claims can be made but not that money will be paid out. There is thus no guarantee that payment will be made. Some may take the view that individuals take a chance and there is a risk, but if we are looking at questions of human dignity, and where this fits in the overall goals of a common immigration policy, this is a serious issue.
So, for my political group, the balance of this proposal is no longer clear either on inspections or remuneration, and other areas have been watered down. We do not feel that Member States are showing much commitment and, therefore, we will not be supporting this proposal."@en1
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