THROUGH THE EU LABYRINTH:

(The European Foundation)   August 2008
Margarida Vasconcelos
Commission prepares one-size-fits-all EU immigration rules

  The European Commission, the French Presidency and the European 
Council are united on Freedom, Security and Justice policies. Under 
new measures proposed by the Commission, the British Government will 
have even less power to decide on asylum and immigration matters.

On 17 June, the European Commission adopted two communications which 
will plan to take forward the EU common immigration and asylum 
policy. The Commission is expecting to obtain the endorsement of the 
European Council in October to both communications which will 
contribute to the 2009 debate on the definition of a new 5-year 
Programme in the Justice, Freedom and Security area.

The communication “A Common immigration policy for Europe: 
principles, actions and tools” is planning to contribute to the 
development of a common immigration policy over the next few years. A 
common immigration policy is one of the EU’s existing priorities.

The Commission has proposed common principles on which the common 
immigration policy should be based. However, the Commission has not 
limited itself to indicating principles – it has already proposed 
concrete action for their implementation.

According to the Commission, “immigration for economic purposes 
should respond to a common needs-based assessment of EU labour 
markets addressing all skills levels and sectors in order to enhance 
the knowledge-based economy of Europe, to advance economic growth and 
to meet labour market requirements.”

In order to achieve this, Member States would be required to develop 
“national immigration profiles” in order to provide data on immigrant 
numbers as well as immigrant participation in the national labour 
market. The Commission also urges the Member States to increase the 
“effectiveness of labour-matching policies and tools”, meaning more 
investment in the education and training for third-country workers in 
order to match their skills with the needs of national labour markets.

  Member States would be required to invest more in measures 
endeavouring to bring unemployed third country nationals who are 
legally residing in the EU Member States into employment. The 
Commission also stressed that host Member States must strengthen 
their efforts to integrate legal immigrants and has called on the 
Member States to effectively apply EU law which provides third 
country nationals with the same treatment as EU nationals in 
coordinating social security schemes across the EU. The Commission 
has pointed out that a common immigration policy must be based on 
solidarity among the Member States.

According to the Commission “… no Member State can effectively 
control or deal with all aspects of immigration on their own and 
therefore decisions likely to have an impact on other Member States 
need to be coordinated.”  [This is the excuse for meddling in a 
country’s own affairs -cs] Member States would no longer be entitled 
to determine their national immigration policies. Last February, the 
European Commission adopted a package on the management of the EU’s 
external borders aiming to set up an integrated EU policy on border 
management and to ensure a uniform and high level of control and 
surveillance (see The European Journal, April 2007 issue). In this 
present communication, the Commission has reiterated its wishes to 
extend FRONTEX powers. The Commission has suggested that the Member 
States should increase the use of biometrics with the aim of fighting 
illegal immigration.

The Commission has pointed out that “Effective return measures are an 
indispensable component of the EU’s policy on illegal immigration.” 
Therefore, the Commission has asked the Member States to provide the 
return policy with a “genuine European dimension.” [Eh? -cs]

The European Commission has called for a common approach on 
regularization. Member States would be required to report to the 
Commission each year on the implementation of the common objectives 
and on their national immigration profiles. Based on Member States’ 
reports, the Commission will draft an annual report for the European 
Council to make a political assessment of the situation and to issue 
recommendations.